For the first time, students attending “Living and Working in Chicago” visited Google. Though privacy reasons prevented the students from seeing all of the floors of the building, they did get to see the casual, jeans-friendly uniform and the cafeteria — free, in order to encourage employees to be efficient during lunch breaks.
“What’s great about the site visits is you get a real feel of the culture: the culture of Google versus the culture of UBS and banking,” Assistant Director of Career Services Sophia Carr said. “Company culture is a big thing about going through the interview process. By doing these, you can see what are the company cultures that are out there and what do you think you’d be a good fit for.”
The Google trip was just the beginning of the Living and Working in Chicago trip, one of two trips the career services office organized for students over fall break. Twelve students attended the Chicago trip, while 15 attended Living and Working in Washington, D.C. The trips combined opportunities to visit sites and network as well as free time and fun tours.
“I thought it was a perfect work-play balance,” said Anthony Manno, director of student activities. “By work, I’m referring to the opportunities given to students to network with alumni and go to notable companies. By play, I mean fun tours associated with the trip.”
Both excursions combined alumni networking with site visits and a day of free time to explore.
In D.C., all 15 students enjoyed lunch at the Charles Koch Institute and the American Enterprise Institute. They split up for site visits to the Center for National Policy, the Capitol, the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, and the Manhattan Institute.
Junior Jake Kenyon chose to go to the Manhattan Institute, a place he said he would love to intern one day.
“The branch in D.C. specifically has a publication called Economics21 by the people who work there about current events in economics,” Kenyon said. “It’s awesome for an internship because the interns actually get to write and publish.”
Both trips featured a networking reception with more than 40 Hillsdale alumni. The Washington, D.C. reception included alumni in law school, in natural history, from up the Hill, from media organizations and more.
“We had this night alumni networking social hour and it was good cause it was people young enough for us to either know, or know people that know them. That was beneficial because you already had a bit of a connection,” junior Peyton Bowen said. She traveled to D.C. and said the interactive presentations from CKI and AEI were highlights from the trip.
Career services has brought students to Chicago for several years but restarted the Washington, D.C. program after a four-year hiatus. The two trips provide opportunities for students with various interests, Wiseley, Manno, and Carr said.
In future years, career services may expand the trips to Seattle, New York City, Detroit, Grand Rapids, Cincinnati, and other cities students have interest in.