HNC Career Manager Profile
Hailey C.G. McGleam is the Hopkins-Nanjing Center Manager of Career Learning and Employer Engagement. Her main role on campus is to foster partnerships and enhance career opportunities for students, particularly focusing on the Asia-Pacific region. Through multiple career treks hosted by Hailey, students can learn more about her experience as a recent graduate in a difficult job market and the skills that make competitive applicants.
What led you to the Hopkins-Nanjing Center? Where did your interest in China begin?
My academic focus has always been on the environment, so naturally my undergraduate concentration was Ecology. My school, New College of Florida, had a unique academic structure where we didn’t have a GPA and followed a pass/fail system. When I noticed that Chinese was offered as a language, I decided that I would try it one semester. My best friend is from Hunan, so all I wanted to do was to learn to have basic conversations with her family who were learning English at the same time. Soon I realized that Chinese made more sense than my Physics classes as China was a major topic in my climate change research. My issue was that the research narratives at the time “othered” people in China and clearly lacked deep cultural understanding.
I decided I needed to go to China to see it for myself, otherwise I’d never be able to understand the relationship between the world’s largest CO2 emitters, the US and China. Two years later, my experiences in Shanghai during my study abroad as a Gilman Scholar revealed to me a deep misunderstanding of the Chinese people and ecological context. Even though Covid had cut my time short in China, I knew I needed to go back. The HNC’s Energy, Resources, and Environment program was a stand-alone opportunity; no other program in China has both this academic focus and an emphasis on language application in the classroom.
Can you talk a little bit about what your career looks like? What is your current position and your first job after the program?
Currently, I am the Manager of Career Learning and Employer Engagement at the Hopkins-Nanjing Center. As the only staff member of the Global Careers team in Asia, I assist students and alumni from all three Johns Hopkins SAIS campuses who are interested in Asia-focused careers; whether that’s SEA focused roles in Berlin, U.S.-China affairs in New York City, or summer intern positions in Tokyo.
I have a bit of a unique career trajectory, as I started working when I was 16 to be able to afford my education. As an undergraduate and graduate student, I’ve always had a student worker role, in addition to my internship experiences at Montessori’s schools, the U.S. EPA R3 Climate & Water Office, and with the Shanghai U.S. Consulate’s Econ Section ESTH Unit. During a gap year, I worked at a major international logistics company which, while fascinating topically, made me realize corporate life wasn’t for me. In other words, I had plenty of practical content knowledge from internships combined with plenty of roles focused on people-orientated skills by the time I graduated.
My job search began early in the spring before thesis defenses, so I was able to start my next job the day after graduation in a contract role with American Councils in Taipei as the Resident Director. That said, I knew my current role at the Hopkins-Nanjing Center would be opening soon, so I took the chance to prepare a strong application during this time and hoped that my initiative as a student worker in the careers section demonstrated my competency. In hindsight, this worked out well given the U.S. had major job cuts within the EPA and climate sectors at the same time, so I get to work in a different industry than what I intended but with a similar goal of helping people.
What about the program do you think prepared you the most for your career and where you've gone in your field?
Each year I attended the Hopkins-Nanjing Center, I was a student worker for the Global Careers team, and the transitionary period during Covid gave me a lot of flexibility in the projects I worked on and the people I could reach out to. The networking skills I gained as a student from the opportunities I created, both within the SAIS community and outside of it, have had the most significant impact on my career. The core of Ecology, my major, is how communities in any system interact and build resilience. I realized this is my core passion in life: bringing people together in a way that creates durable networks even during unstable circumstances. I get to do this every day now in my role at the HNC, learning from the academic passions of students and alumni around the world simultaneously.
As the market for entry-level international relations jobs seems to be getting smaller, what do you see are the best ways for students to stand out and have success in applications?
I used to joke as a student that my Chinese minor was a back-up plan in a world that refuses to acknowledge the urgency of climate change mitigation. It turns out my instinct was right, and language skills are a key pathway of distinguishing yourself in an oversaturated IR market. Because of this, I cannot overstate the importance of taking the time every day to dedicate yourself to learning a critical need language in terms of skills. If you have the opportunity to be in the country, it’s even more valuable to have language skills within a cultural context; what a community uses and what is in a standardized textbook is very different. Especially in America and Europe, many people have mediocre language skills but often don’t have that on-the-ground experience abroad.
Another way to stand out in applications is to make sure you have really developed your emotional IQ (EQ) within your writing: understanding the impacts of your words in a succinct way is a skill that is hard to find in every industry. Strong EQ also translates to charismatic interviews and great team dynamics. In a world where AI has reduced the need for hard skills, many companies are focused on individuals whose soft skills will improve the flow of the workplace.
What other advice do you have for current students?
In my opinion, the goal of graduate school is to find a good job in an industry you are interested in, which means you absolutely should take advantage of your access to the numerous resources provided by the Global Careers Department. Not only that, but this is a key time to build networks within your cohort and the general Johns Hopkins SAIS community. Whether it’s practicing your language skills with language partners, attending happy hours hosted by student leadership, or creating clubs to connect with others of similar academic interests, it’s important to put yourself out there and talk with people. Genuine relationships take time to develop, but this will be a major support system for the rest of your personal and professional career.
What is your favorite memory from your time at the HNC?
My favorite memory is the Introduction to Weightlifting sessions I host every month on campus. Although it’s a sport that can be intimidating if you don’t know where to begin, it’s a very healthy way for the students to manage any stress they have in their life. These sessions always result in a short 热闹 social by the end, creating a supportive environment where everyone shares their athletic interests and goals.
