Success story: Gabelli student gets sales job at Discovery
Success Stories | May 12, 2015 | Gabelli School of Business
Denisse Garcia never forsakes an opportunity.
Because of that, the Bronx native will begin her post-college career as an advertising sales assistant at Discovery Communications.
Her path to the position offers a lesson for all job-seekers. It began at a Fordham University event: the annual diversity banquet.
“You got to choose who you would like to sit with, and my No.1 choice was Discovery,” said Garcia, who will graduate in less than a week.
An intern at Viacom and a business administration major at the Gabelli School, Garcia was looking for a full-time position in marketing. She sat next to a couple of Discovery staff members at just the right time.
“There were two recruiters [at the dinner], and we struck up a conversation,” she said. It turned out that her internship responsibilities at Viacom dovetailed with an open role at Discovery. She will start work just two days after her May 16 graduation.
Garcia was thrilled with how quickly her job search turned into a find. She credits her success to the ability to network, a skill she believes all undergraduates should master.
“Go to as many events as possible,” she advised.
Make your own business cards, she added. The card is, in many cases, part of the first impression you make. Her own cards quote Albert Einstein and give a hint at the possibilities that await Garcia in the future.
“The true sign of intelligence,” the card reads, “is not knowledge but imagination.”