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.:Resource Guides:Interviews-Benjamin Sand.
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Interviews
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Career Path
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What was your first job after college and how did you get it? |
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I worked as a teacher for Prep For Prep, and education program in New York. I had worked there for two summers during college so it was an easy transition. I definitely gained my first appointment with them based on my volunteer activities while
I was a freshman and sophomore in college.
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How did you get your current job? |
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The Peace Corps. There is no better way for people to gain entree into the world of international relief and development. After I was in the Peace Corps I knew what I wanted to do and had enough experience to get an entry level job
with a professional organization.
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What experiences and/or course work in college best prepared you for this job or influenced your decision to do this work? |
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Probably the volunteer jobs I took. I did a lot of work with youth groups off campus that gave be a better sense of the issues I wanted to address professionally. In terms of preparation, probably the least-related job helped me the
most -- I worked at a law firm one summer. It's amazing how much I learned about handling myself maturely and professionally in the workplace. I see a lot of younger folk who are taking on their first jobs out of college and really don't know how to handle
themselves.
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Any regrets? What experiences and/or course work might have better prepared you for this work? |
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I wish I had learned a language...fluently. There is no better time or place than college to study a language. I can't believe I wasted it. Also I wish I had studied economics, just to make better sense of the issues I am looking at
these days at work.
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Have you attended graduate school or are you considering graduate school? What degree do you have/would you want and why? Are there any limitations to advancement in your field if you do not have a certain graduate degree? |
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I'm actually enrolled in a journalism program so it's a bit of a career switch. But in terms of relief work, and international work in general, I stress hard skills. I definitely need another degree to go forward, but not just for the
degree's sake, but because there are skills that I need to learn, be it public health, engineering, or automechanics. At a certain point aptitude can only get you so far, you need expertise, and that is best taught in a specialized program.
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