Student employees gain valuable insights at VCU Work+ Mini-Conference

By VCU Career Services

A recent gathering of Virginia Commonwealth University student employees ("working learners") and supervising faculty and staff members offered a shared learning and networking opportunity that is the latest example of VCU's efforts to create more ways for student employees to enjoy high quality work experiences on campus.

Last month's second-annual VCU Work+ Mini-Conference, hosted by VCU Work+/Student Employment Action Team, VCU Career Services and the Office of Student Leadership and Engaged Learning, featured a series of sessions designed to give working learners and the supervisors who support them new insights into the career-building process.

In the opening keynote session, a panel discussed building professional skills to use at VCU and beyond. Beverly Walker, program manager of career development with VCU Human Resources, moderated the session, which featured four current full-time staff members across various offices within VCU: Nicole Concepcion Aquino from Undergraduate Research/Transformative Learning, Ijuanzee Isom from the Division of Student Affairs, Barry Laneau from Technology Services and Maya Rogers from the Office of the Provost.

The panelists discussed their experiences in developing professional skills that have helped propel their careers at VCU. Aquino, who started working at VCU as a graduate assistant, spoke about her personal experiences as "a recovering people-pleaser" and how she learned to set boundaries in a new role.

"Do not let yourself be hindered by your own anxieties and your own fears," Aquino said. Many students struggle with not feeling qualified enough to fulfill a full-time role, and Aquino recommended students remember a quote when not feeling the confidence to apply for jobs, especially in competitive fields: "Don't tell yourself no; let them tell you no."

Later, attendants chose from six breakout sessions. Among them was one centered on marketing social media usage, Canva and how to depict the VCU student experience. The session, hosted by Josh Skillman, director of communications and marketing for the Division of Student Affairs, featured three student panelists working in marketing and communications roles at VCU: Keyouna Richardson and Devan Wagner from the Division of Student Affairs and Raylyn Del Mundo from Career Services.

The panelists discussed curating the front-facing experience that students see on VCU social media accounts such as the Student Affairs and Career Services Instagram feeds. Del Mundo, a content specialist at Career Services, spoke about how she was able to build and transform her role to focus on her primary interests in social media.

"I started off at Career Services first as a front desk assistant, then I was hired as a photography assistant to take headshots," Del Mundo said. However, as a marketing student in the School of Business, she wanted to tailor her job to better fit her primary interest in content creation. After conversations with her supervisor, Del Mundo's role changed to her current position, making a big difference in her professional development opportunities at work and illustrating the ways students can gain invaluable experience working at VCU.

"I got to experience the best of both worlds by doing both photography and social media, and now I get to focus even more on social media in my role," Del Mundo said.

The Work+ Mini-Conference is part of a campuswide push, which includes the Rams at Work website, to develop more opportunities throughout the year for student employees to develop high quality work experiences at VCU.