How Jopwell Helped Me Land My First Internship: Rachael Orekoya

Jopwell is currently on hundreds of campuses in the United States, working with thousands of students trying to break into the workforce. We love giving you advice on how to push your job search further, but some of the best advice comes from current students who know what it’s like to be in your shoes. With that in mind, we talked to Rachael Orekoya, a Jopwell user and third-year senior at the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA). Rachael, who is graduating in fall 2019, is earning a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration (BBA) and Economics, but she originally thought of going into law. After she became more involved in student leadership positions on campus and learned about professional opportunities through Jopwell, her focus changed. This summer, she’ll be interning with J.P. Morgan.

Ahead, Rachael talks with Campus Engagement Associate, Chris Gooding, about her background, life on campus, and how to make the most of the interview process when you’re trying to land your first internship.

Tell us about yourself and what you’re involved with on campus.

I’m from a small town called Stafford near Houston, TX. It’s a working-class area and that’s what I’ve been exposed to most of my life. My mom graduated from Grambling State University and she earned an associate’s degree in criminal justice, but she later decided to work in sales. My father graduated from Prairie View University with a degree in accounting, so I guess that’s where my business background comes from — always seeing my dad in a corporate setting.

After my father moved back to Nigeria when I was in high school, I decided that I wanted to pursue law school. I thought I’d start at UTSA and then transfer into the University of Texas law school, but that changed the longer immersed myself in the campus environment. So I ended up changing my major to economics and started to get more involved with the business side of campus.

Why did you make that transition?

As a poli-sci major, it seemed like all I would be doing in the future is running for office. Plus, after doing a lot of research about how to get into law school, I learned that one of the best ways is to not major in something that pertains to law. Instead, I tried to find something I was interested in. I like talking. I like advertising. I like selling — but I also like analyzing markets and trying to use that to persuade people to do things. That’s why I decided to go into economics. I thought I’d get the best of both worlds and eventually practice civil law. Now that I’ve become more involved on campus, I’m interested in being an advocate to help and advise other students.

What roles have you taken on to do that?

I became a Supplemental Instructions Leader for my Microeconomics course. A supplemental instructor is basically a tutor in a more facilitating environment. Instead of telling students exactly what to do, I pushed them to work together to solve problems and offered them resources.

I also joined a few organizations including the National Society of Collegiate Scholars, where I became an events coordinator. I held that position for a few years and focused on creating a more inclusive environment and increasing membership rates. It’s important to me that I make an impact everywhere I go. Once I figured out that was my passion, I started to look for more events on campus that focused on inclusivity, and that’s how I learned about Jopwell.

Did you attend any Jopwell events on campus?

I did. I believe the first one I attended was a leadership conference for minorities co-hosted by Goldman Sachs. After that, I looked more into Jopwell’s work, saw all of the events with J.P. Morgan, decided to make an account, and started getting callbacks from people asking me to come to events. That’s when I started learning about workplace diversity and inclusion (D&I) efforts. Prior to that, I had no idea what diversity and inclusion was because it isn’t really discussed in school. I knew that I wanted to be in the corporate sector, and as an African-American woman, I know how it feels to be an outcast. I realized that I wanted to make an impact and encourage people in low-income areas like my hometown to know that they can persevere and work in corporate America.

You mentioned seeing a lot of J.P. Morgan opportunities when you first joined the platform. How did you start applying for those positions?

It sounds silly, but one of the things that got me started was seeing my friends prospering. They were all interning somewhere and doing something, and I realized I wasn’t doing much. J.P. Morgan was one of the biggest companies that Jopwell was promoting at the time, so from the end of the summer to the beginning of the school semester, I literally sat and applied to every opportunity with them on the Jopwell site. I knew that if I applied myself and the skill sets I acquired throughout my academic career, I could succeed. I thought I would go into finance or banking, but after creating a Jopwell account, huge companies were interested in me, and it changed my perspective. Even if you don’t know exactly what you want to do, if you apply yourself and absorb the environment around you, you can persevere and be successful.

You mentioned being able to showcase your skill set. What are those skills?

As far as hard skills, I definitely have a strong analytical background. I’ve taken statistics courses the entire time I’ve been at UTSA so I know how to work regressions and I know about RStudio — all of the tools you need to be successful in the banking sector. In terms of soft skills, which people touch on less, I have a sense of compassion and passion for inclusion, making sure everybody’s ideas and thoughts are being heard.

When I started doing interviews and explaining my skill set, I believe it was my soft skills that really carried me through. Having compassion isn’t something you can learn. It’s something you develop through experience.

How did you prepare for those interviews and what resources did you use?

When I started applying for internships through Jopwell and actually got callbacks from people who wanted to interview me, I panicked. One, I never thought I’d get any callbacks! On top of that, I’d never been through a formal interview in a truly corporate setting.

YouTube became my way of life. I Googled how to succeed in a corporate interview. I Googled “What is a cover letter?” I read through people’s testimonies about their own interview experiences and reached out to the career centers at my university. I tried to utilize the resources I have around me and was very persistent. I wanted to make sure that if I had an interview, I would be remembered for something good.

What Jopwell resources helped you prepare?

On the Jopwell website, there are descriptions of jobs and their requirements. The good thing about Jopwell is, if your résumé is on file and the job descriptions are right there, you can literally sit there and tailor your skills to the job.

What is the best piece of advice you got in your interview process?

I went to the BOLD Immersion program for Google where we had an entire interview workshop. One of the most important things I learned was to ask questions. Small companies and retail jobs do ask you questions, but they aren’t conditional, they’re kind of yes or no, cut and dry. But in corporate interviews, you’re asked things like, “What would you do if this happened? Or that happened?” A piece of advice I considered is to ask questions in return if you’re confused. Ask your interviewer to clarify the context of their question if you don’t understand something. I would never have thought to do that in the past but it shows you’re listening and are going through a thought process, rather than rushing into an answer.

Another thing that I learned was to take time before answering. That’s a small tip, but one that really helped me. During an interview, you have a million things on your mind and are just hoping you’ll get the job at the end of the day. Instead of immediately answering when someone asks you a question, say, “Can I take a moment to collect my thoughts?” If you’re nervous, that will really help you.

There are times when I was asked a question, would choke on my words, and then just stop. It was embarrassing and made me worry that the interviewer thought I didn’t know what I was saying or was making things up. When I started taking a pause to collect my thoughts, I’d end up giving more articulate answers.

What advice do you have for students in the Jopwell campus community who are navigating the interview process?

First: Do your research — not only on the company but on the people who are interviewing you! Doing so can take your interview process to another level. If you know more about your interviewer, you’ll be able to have a conversation. That leads me to my next point, which is to try to have a conversation rather than a Q&A session. If your interviewer asks you a question, ask them what they think about the situation or try to align some of the things you learned about them into the answer. Some companies interview hundreds of candidates and I’d guess that more than half of those candidates stick with a Q&A style. Change it up so your interview doesn’t feel like they’re going through the exact same process they went through with someone else.

Finally, try to relax and have fun. People often think about interviews as a test of whether they are right for a job, when it is also about whether a job is right for them. Changing how I thought about that helped me. I know what I can provide to a company and I’ll let them know what that is, but I also want to see what a company can provide for me and if that company aligns with my values; that’s why it’s important to ask questions at the end of an interview. Once people get out of the mindset that interviews are scary or are a test, you can be a little more easygoing.

Jopwell’s theme for this year is Unlocking Opportunity — what does that phrase mean to you?

For me, unlocking opportunity is less about getting an advantage just for myself; it’s more about unlocking opportunities that will help future generations. For example, people in my town tend to not go to college at all, or if they do, they go to college and never come back. I’m in college and got an internship, and I want to let the person after me know they can do it, too.