Internships Help Players Tackle Careers

The CFHA is dedicated to helping former and current players find contacts and jobs in their fields of interest. Almost all of us have a story about how Cornell helped us find a position in the workplace. This month we pulled together some of those stories. 

By: Sara Sanders ‘11

Internship: Carat in New York City

I graduated just this last May 2011 as a Communication and Development Sociology major and played Defense during my 4 years at Cornell. After meeting various alumni at our tailgate after the St. Joes game my senior year and hearing their backgrounds, I realized how much experience they each had and how we as players and students could use that to our benefit in so many ways. They had already been through the job-searching process and were eager to offer advice in any way possible. I spoke with Sara Weiner '05, during the tailgate, who was in the same field that I wanted to pursue—Media and Marketing. She chatted with me about the industry and told me to reach out if I wanted to learn more. Using the contact list we were given after the game, I reached out to her a few days later and we set up a phone chat. What resulted was more than I could have expected. She gave me a brief overview of different Marketing agencies and how they all worked. After letting her know a few that I was interested in, she gave me the contact information for a fellow Cornell Alumni and friend, Kellie Raff, who worked at a marketing agency called Carat. After speaking with Kellie, I was set up with an internship at Carat over winter break in New York City, working as an intern on her Digital Media Planning team. While this was short, it gave me experience and I learned so much valuable information that I use to this day. Currently, I am working for Digitas, a digital marketing agency, as an Associate Media Planner. My internship experience has helped in so many ways, be it during the interview process, or during my day to day now, and I would never have been given the opportunity if it were not for reaching out to the alumni.