Education meets opportunity! Our 6th cohort of NOVA IET CLRI (Career and Readiness Leadership Institute) grads at Northern Virginia Community College used new skills to make industry connections at our recent networking event aimed at securing #InDemandTech internships and jobs!
We had a record number of students this Fall, with 61 students at the preliminary interest meeting and 65 students attending at least one workshop.
NOVA IET’s M. Andy Chaves and Sedrick Settle have done excellent work inspiring students to get involved and understand the value of interpersonal relationships in the technology industry.
Overall, 41 students are on track to complete CLRI, ready to get ahead with valuable soft-skills (Building Your Personal Brand, Interview Prep, Professionalism & Accountability, Effective Communication, Trends in IT, and How to Write a Technical Resume) that are vital for their technology career journey.
During the program, students were offered at least 4 site tours to Data Centers and a microchip processing plant to gain a fuller understanding of what they are preparing for.
The big finish – an Executive Mentoring and Networking Event where industry professionals advised and conversed with students to help them build their network. Many of these companies will provide internship and job opportunities to CLRI participants, as has been the case every time we do CLRI!
Big thanks to the following executives and companies who invested their time, knowledge, and experience for our CLRI grads looking to launch their careers:
CoreSite – Miguel Ramos, CMCO
Sustainable Workforce Development Solutions (SWDS) – Daisy Saulls
FedHIVE – Michael Cardaci
Amazon Web Services (AWS) – Stephen Jolly
Micron Technology – Michael Guttman
A Foot in the Door, Inc. – Keith W. Francis
Technology Infrastructure Advisors – Ajay Bawa
The feedback we received from students was effusive. Here’s a few of the responses:
“CLRI is an incredible program from beginning to the end, every single day was filled with great opportunities to learn and explore new careers. The best program ever created to achieve students confidence at the door step of widely expanding technology industries in Virginia. I’m thankful and grateful be in this program and hope future NOVA students will continue to be inspired by CLRI.”
– Shamalee Jayakodi Arachchige
It was fantastic! I had very thoughtful and insightful discussions with industry leaders. I feel much more confident in myself and in my speaking abilities. Thank you so much for the opportunity to participate, learn, and apply the concepts you’ve instilled in my CLRI teammates and I.” – Gabriel Diaz-Rosero
“Thank you for the the event. The mentors are so welcoming, open to share and listen. We are so glad to be a part of the community. I left with a clearer vision of my next step.” – Nga Tran
NOVA students who are interested in getting in on the 2024 CLRI sessions, go to https://bit.ly/CLRI24
More about CLRI at https://www.nvcc.edu/career-services/clri.html