Young Leaders Share Job Advice with Career-Bound Young Adults
Young Leaders Share Job Advice with Career-Bound Young Adults
Young adults involved with Opportunities for a Better Tomorrow (OBT), an organization that helps disadvantaged youth and adults in New York City with job training, academic reinforcement and job placement, gained some behind-the-scenes insight into the world of corporate real estate recently at a mentoring and networking event organized by the Young Leaders of CoreNet Global NYC.
The event was part of the Young Leaders' Community Reinvestment Challenge and brought together more than 20 Young Leaders and 20 young adults, ages 18-24, involved in OBT's Young Adult Internship program. Steelcase, a global leader in the office furniture industry, hosted the event in its showroom.
To start the evening, Sarah Currie of VVA, LLC, a Young Leaders committee member and an organizer of the event, introduced a panel of Young Leaders who then shared information about their current positions, described their paths into corporate real estate and responded to some hard-hitting questions from the young adults about the economy, trends in the real estate market, job interviews and CoreNet Global. The audience also asked panelists about how they recognized a position was 'the right job' for them and what they found to most exciting about real estate.
Young Leader Kenny Rodriguez, Vice President at BNY Mellon, moderated the interactive panel discussion comprised of Young Leader members from various sectors of corporate real estate. Panelists included James Coletta, WB Wood; Amanda Carroll, Gensler; Christian Bryan, IAC; Katherine Iwama, Marsh & McLennan Companies; and Lauren Davidson, Grubb & Ellis.
"The thought-provoking and eloquent questions posed by many of these young people offered a refreshing glimpse at the next generation of New York's workforce," Currie said. "Our panelists shared great advice that probably benefitted other Young Leaders in the audience as well."
Following the panel discussion, the young adults from OBT joined smaller groups of Young Leaders in attendance to speak more casually about starting careers, coursework in college and networking.
"This is always one of my favorite YL events because you can offer the advice you wish you'd received when you were starting out, or maybe help another young person get a foot in the door with an internship somewhere," Rodriguez noted.
The Young Leaders committee has worked with other New York City community groups, including Harlem RBI, New York Cares and the beautification of New York City parks, and looks forward organizing community outreach events on a regular basis.
