We asked Alumni: How did your involvement in clubs and organizations develop skills valuable to your profession?
Here is what they shared:
- Leadership Skills Fuel Startup Growth
- Management Experience Shapes Careers
- Teamwork Translates to Professional Success
- Engaging Strangers Enhances Relationship Building
Leadership Skills Fuel Startup Growth
In 2006 at ASU, I helped expand the Philippine-American Student Association (PASA) from five to 50+ members alongside President Geoff Ibe. We established traditions like ‘Sino Tayo,’ still celebrated 15 years later. This leadership experience paved the way for growing my startup in 2015 from five employees to over 250 today. A highlight was witnessing PASA’s 2022 halftime performance for the Phoenix Suns, showcasing Philippine culture to thousands of spectators and a worldwide audience.
Creating an organization that stands the test of time is a skill that will always remain valuable, no matter what changes happen in the world.
Eric Mulvin, B.S. Marketing ‘08, CEO, Pac Biz Outsourcing
Management Experience Shapes Careers
During my sophomore and junior years at ASU, I served as a Residential Engagement Leader, a role within the student housing leadership. Little did I know, this organization would allow me to hone skills I now use daily in my career.
Being a Residential Engagement Leader enhanced my management skills, which have proven invaluable in my current role as a Marketing Strategist. The hands-on experience of conceptualizing, planning, budgeting, and executing events honed my ability to bring projects to life from start to finish. This skill set seamlessly translates into my marketing role, where I navigate the entire process of strategizing and implementing campaigns.
Moreover, working with peers and connecting with my advisor regularly during my time at ASU contributed to my proficiency in collaborating with teams and effectively communicating with leadership. Executing projects successfully and conveying information accurately and concisely were fundamental aspects of my residential engagement leadership role, and these are skills that I apply daily as a Marketing Strategist.
I highly recommend joining a club or organization that pushes you slightly out of your comfort zone. This is where you’ll cultivate skills that will serve you well.
Celeste Routh, B.S. Marketing ‘20, SEO Strategist, The Elegance Edit
Teamwork Translates to Professional Success
Teamwork is one of the biggest skills to transfer over from club and organization—and athletic—involvement into the professional world. So much of our educational experiences are built around our individual selves. Even in most group assignments, people remain focused on what they can do for themselves to ensure success. In a club or organization setting, it’s much more about the collective goal—whether that is raising awareness for something on campus, sharing a love of a particular hobby, or what have you. That element of teamwork, and this idea of all working towards a united goal, is so integral to the workplace.
Taylor Nelson, B.A. & M.M.C. in Journalism and Mass Communication ‘16, Account Supervisor, Brodeur Partners
Engaging Strangers Enhances Relationship Building
Throughout my undergraduate degree at ASU, I was a Community Assistant (more commonly known as an RA) at the first-year engineering dorms. Through this role, I learned the invaluable skill of being able to talk to strangers about the things they love.
Part of the role was knowing and keeping up to date with everyone (approximately 50 students) in my hall. More often than not, this involved knocking on their doors, unsolicited, multiple times, and striking up a conversation. It was awkward at first; I didn’t know how to talk to strangers. They’d open the door, and I’d ramble through some cookie-cutter get-to-know-you script that I thought would work, but it never did. After, literally, hundreds of repetitions, the awkwardness subsided, and I ditched the cookie-cutter script. I realized each student had hobbies and passions they were dying to talk about.
I learned how to discover the hobbies and passions of the people I met and how to create a space where they felt comfortable talking about them. Everyone has something they love and want to share with others; being able to find these passions and giving them the space to open up about them has enabled me to build amazing friendships and professional relationships with people who otherwise would still be strangers to me. Even if I don’t end up becoming great friends or building lasting professional relationships, it’s an amazing and fulfilling experience to hear someone gush about a topic they’re truly passionate about.
Dave Syms, B.S. in Computer Science ’22, Software Engineer, Featured
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