10 in 5: Federal Job Search Series
Hello, my name is Chris Ramos and I am currently a junior management major here at Virginia Tech. This past year I have been working alongside Career Services in trying to inform and encourage Virginia Tech students in pursuing jobs and internships with the Federal Government. My story starts with humble beginnings, but by the end of it you will see the strides that Virginia Tech has made in helping its students pursue careers in Public Service.
Last summer, I was appointed as a Federal Service Student Ambassador by the Partnership for Public Service (aka The Partnership). The Partnership is a non-profit organization dedicated towards increasing the interest of college students (and other young people) to work for our government. They fund the Federal Service Student Ambassadorship and offer ambassadors any support they might need in the efforts of helping their peers to find government jobs (I would be remiss if I did not take this moment to thank my wonderful Partnership coach Ms. Jennifer Close). After receiving training by the Partnership, I went back to school with the mindset of helping my fellow Hokies work for our country.
During one humid day in August, I walked over to Career Services to explain my ambassadorship and how I am there to help. It turns out that going to Career Services was one of the best decisions I made. I met with a wonderful lady named Mrs. Claire Childress. She immediately understood the potential opportunities that were possible for not only Career Services and I, but for the University as well. We agreed to conduct meetings weekly and to start planning efforts that would help Virginia Tech students find public service employment opportunities. So Claire and I met weekly and she asked another wonderful young lady, Ms. Kristin Eicholtz to join in on our meetings. The three of us continued to meet weekly and we now had something going. The biggest goal that I wanted to accomplish for fall semester was to get President Steger to sign Virginia Tech on to become a Call to Serve University. By being a call to serve university, Virginia Tech is making the affirmation that it is committed to helping educate and encourage its students to go for public service employment opportunities. Claire, Kristin, and I worked very hard for the entire semester on petitioning Dr. Steger. Another wonderful lady in Mrs. Donna Ratcliffe, the Director of Career Services, joined our efforts as well. Little did we all know that our teamwork was helping to establish a foundation of something potentially great.
Although it took all of fall semester and a part of spring, we were able to successfully get President Steger’s signature which made Virginia Tech a Call to Serve institution. It was largely through the efforts of Mrs. Donna Ratcliffe that we were able to accomplish this. I cannot thank her enough. Next, came the planning of setting up the education of students about federal jobs. It was while I was working on this that I had the pleasure of meeting two truly great individuals, Mrs. Mary Ann Cole and Mr. Jim Gresham. Mary Ann helped to market the federal seminar series that I was hosting with Career Services to hundreds of students within our campus. Jim offered me great advice for how I should present and offered particular points of interests that students might ask. The seminar series that was held on every Wednesday from March 24th until April 21st was a success. Over 60 students expressed interest in Public Service and the room was close to full for most of the presentations. We also got positive feedback from many of the attendees. If it wasn’t for the efforts of the people aforementioned, none of this would have happened.
As you can see, Career Services and I have started something new and exciting. We have established a foundation and plan to only move forward. I am truly grateful for Donna, Claire, Kristin, Mary Ann, and Jim. Their collaboration with me was fantastic and they were truly a pleasure to work with. We are a team and I hope that we can continue our success together. I am positive that each and every one of us is committed to helping our fellow Hokies achieve our motto of “Ut Prosim” (That I may serve) by helping them to find and achieve opportunities to work for our great country. May we continue to always serve together.
