HNC Career Services Manager Michael Hoffman, HNC '15, shares the inside scoop on a valuable networking and professional development tool at the HNC/SAIS known as the Career Trek.
I attended the HNC Certificate program from 2014-2015 after serving on a Fulbright Fellowship in Taiwan. The HNC program had always been something I knew I wanted to do and even today I am struck by the reputation and influence it holds in the China field. When I got the chance to come back in 2019 and manage Career Services for the HNC, I was really excited. While a good portion of my time since starting has been remote, it nevertheless has been a great experience and I really enjoy the opportunity to work with so many exceptional students and alumni who share a similar professional interest and skill set. I also rely a lot on my experience as an HNC student to inform how we run Career Services programming and to make sure we are best serving the needs of a very unique group of students and young professionals.
What are Career Treks? Does the Career Services team take a different approach to career treks for our Hopkins-Nanjing Center students?
Career treks at the HNC and SAIS are essentially the same. They tend to differ only by geographic region. The HNC takes the lead on all Asia treks while my colleagues in DC lead our North American Treks and SAIS Europe hosts our European treks. In general though, I think career treks are some of the most valuable programming we do in Career Services. They are great learning opportunities that allow students to not only travel to different cities and countries but to also meet with alumni and professionals working in so many interesting roles. They are really helpful to learn about the different options out there, and how to leverage your HNC/SAIS education in the workplace and network with alumni and potential future employers. I strongly encourage all students to participate in as many career treks at the HNC and SAIS as they can during their time with us.
Like almost everything, we have had to hold career treks virtually since the start of the pandemic. While this has changed the experience in some ways, and we do intend to go back to in-person career treks for the most part as soon as the situation allows, there have been some upsides to going virtual. The biggest plus of virtual career treks has been accessibility for students. In the past, it was difficult to attend career treks held by other SAIS campuses due to the need for extensive travel, but this past year all career treks have been open to all SAIS/HNC students regardless of campus. For the HNC, it also has allowed us to do career treks that might have been more difficult in-person, such as our Singapore and South East Asia career treks.
What would you say is the greatest benefit of participating in a career trek? Do you have one or two career trek student success stories that you could share?
The two main reasons to attend career treks are to learn about different career options and to network. I can't stress enough how helpful this is for professional development. I often hear from students who have gone on career treks with me how, as a result, they are now interested in a whole new career path that they previously did not even know was an option. I think that is the biggest success of our career treks. In more concrete terms though, many students use what they learn about companies and industries on the trek to give them a competitive edge when applying for jobs and to leverage the connections they make on treks in a really positive way. We often have students who, after meeting alumni on a career trek, go ahead and apply for roles at that organization. It goes a long way in expressing interest in an organization if you can tell them you visited and enjoyed learning about the organization.
Career trek sign-ups are run through the Handshake platform for all SAIS campuses, including the HNC. You should look for them in events postings as well as in the jobs section of Handshake. The best way though to make sure you are staying on top of what career treks are happening is to read all email and WeChat correspondence from HNC Career Services and SAIS Global Careers. The best way to prepare for career treks is to do your homework. Research each company on the trek, make a list of alumni working there, and jot down a list of well-thought-out questions that you can ask the hosts.
