Equipped to Lead and Succeed

Meet Four New Graduates Who Have Jobs Lined Up

by Evan Elliot, USF News

These members of the Class of 2024 have jobs waiting for them. What will they be doing? How did they land those jobs? What’s their advice to students?

Liyanos Abate

Liyanos Abate, BA Politics

I’ll be an investment banking analyst in the global banking and markets office of Goldman Sachs in New York. Economics, politics, law, and policy are all interconnected and they all affect the market, so at USF I majored in politics and got two minors: economics and legal studies.

My career advice to students? It’s never too early to start thinking about a career. I recommend you start working on it your first semester at USF. That’s what I did. I spent a lot of time on Handshake, reaching out to USF alumni, asking for advice, asking about internships. I babysat for a man who worked at Google, and I asked him how he got his job there. I asked my professors, went to their office hours. Professor Patlolla helped me a lot. I made it a goal to land one internship each year. Last summer I did an internship at Goldman Sachs. At the end of the summer they offered me a full-time position.

 

Kevin Sarmiento

Kevin Sarmiento, BS Engineering

I’ll be starting in June at the Disneyland resort in Anaheim, working behind the scenes with the facilities asset management team — maintaining rides, attractions, shops, anything the guests interact with. I’ve wanted to work at Disney for as long as I can remember. I’m born and raised in San Francisco but I’ve been going to Disneyland with my family at least once a year for most of my life.

USF allowed me to have this multidisciplinary kind of learning. In my sophomore year I became a stage manager in the Performing Arts and Social Justice department. I gained an appreciation for behind-the-scenes work. Engineering professors like Genna Smith, Lou Sassoubre, Hana Mori, they all encouraged me to be creative and to follow my dreams.

My career advice: Pursue your passions. Network. Take advantage of all the opportunities that the school and those around you have to offer. And be persistent. Don’t let the first ‘no’ discourage you — don’t let any ‘no’ discourage you. I applied to nine different jobs at Disney. The first two were immediate ‘no.’ I also applied for jobs in construction project management at other firms, and I got ‘no.’ If you really want it, you’ll get it if you keep going.

 

Ishmam Rahman

Ishmam Rahman, BSBA Accounting

 

I’ll be a staff accountant at Ernst and Young in downtown San Francisco. At USF, Diane Roberts was a huge help. I transferred to USF as a junior, and the first accounting professor I had was Professor Roberts. Everything I’ve done the past two years, I always go to her and she’s helped me so much. Also, Alex Hochman of the Career Services Center. I made an appointment with him and he taught me about networking and how to search for internships and jobs. He pointed me to an internship with EY, and that internship led me to my full-time job.

My career advice to students: It’s really important to have a mindset that you want to get an internship or you want to get a job, and just believe in yourself. Also, get involved. Join a club. I joined and eventually led Beta Alpha Psi. It helps more than you would think to be surrounded by people who are in the same shoes as you and who want to be in the same place as you. And you need to enjoy what you’re doing, and that starts with doing things outside of your studies. I played club soccer at USF. Just take advantage of the environment here in San Francisco.

 

Nolan Ward

Nolan Ward, BS Engineering

I’ll be starting in August as an electrical engineer at Northrop Grumman in Maryland, working with advanced multifunction sensors.

I’m part of the first cohort of engineering students at USF. We all started in 2020 during the pandemic. That first year was all Zoom. Then starting in the second year we came to campus for in-person classes. One of the classes that I’m taking now, Control Systems with Akshay Pattabi, applies to my future work. Control systems is like a lot of math for analog circuits — analysis and design of analog circuits, which I think is important for most electrical engineering jobs.

My career advice to students: Start looking for a job early. Don’t wait until your junior year. Ask people — family, friends, whoever you meet — if they know of any jobs or internships. And when you hear of any jobs or internships, apply early. In the fall semester of my junior year I applied for an internship at Northrop Grumman for the following summer. I’ve noticed that the openings for summer internships start shutting down by early winter, so if you apply early in the fall you improve your chances.

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