Class of 2020 Achieves Career Goals Amid Pandemic
08/21/2020
Contacts for media: Nancy Cicco, 978-934-4944 or Nancy_Cicco@uml.edu and Christine Gillette, 978-758-4664 or Christine_Gillette@uml.edu
LOWELL, Mass. – UMass Lowell’s 2020 graduates are finding professional success, thanks to their resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic and the strength of the university’s academic and career-planning programs.
Like countless members of the Class of 2020 across the country, Fred Tavarez’s expectations for moving into the workforce were knocked for a loop by COVID-19. A graduate of UMass Lowell’s Manning School of Business, Tavarez entered the job market just as the economy went into a tailspin and employees everywhere left conference rooms and cubicles to conduct business via Zoom from the comfort of their couch or kitchen table.
But Taverez – a first-generation college student and Andover native – was eager to dive in to his job search. He credits UMass Lowell’s Career and Co-op Center and his past service in the Massachusetts Army National Guard with helping him land his job as a pricing analyst with BAE Systems.
Tavarez first connected with recruiters from the defense, security and aerospace company at a UMass Lowell career fair last fall. After a round of interviews, he received a job offer in March, well before graduation. Last month, he completed his onboarding at the company’s offices in Nashua, N.H., and is now working remotely.
“I am so fortunate. I’m confident; I think I’m prepared,” he said, noting he hopes to return to UMass Lowell in the future to pursue his master’s degree in business administration.
As recent graduates have had to adjust their job-seeking strategies, so too has UMass Lowell, adding new services for students and recent alumni amid the pandemic, according to Gregory Denon, associate dean of student affairs for career development. After the university moved to remote operations in March, the Career and Co-op Center produced its Spring Career Fair as a virtual event that drew more than 300 students and scores of employers. As a result, five more virtual career events and other networking opportunities for UMass Lowell students and alumni are planned for the fall.
Despite the economic slowdown, UMass Lowell continues to provide information about full-time job openings for recent graduates, according Denon, who noted companies with strong information-technology infrastructures that can support employees working from home are welcoming new hires at a steady clip.
That was the case for Ashley Ventrillo, a UMass Lowell public health graduate who is now a victim witness advocate for the Essex County District Attorney’s Office. She transitioned into the full-time job after completing an internship at the Lawrence District Court this spring – an opportunity she, too, learned about through a UMass Lowell career fair.
Although she began the job working exclusively from her home in Methuen, she now works remotely three days a week and conducts business the other two days at the courthouse, where social distancing, face coverings and other safety protocols are the new normal.
“It’s not how I expected to start my job, but I’m excited to be in a position where I can help people,” said Ventrillo, who plans to take her law-school admission test later this month with an eye toward becoming a criminal prosecutor.
UMass Lowell graduates who had lined up jobs before the pandemic took hold are also building their resiliency in this changing environment.
Michael Venetti of Lowell, who earned a master’s degree in peace and conflict studies in May, started his job search last fall when he applied to the Presidential Management Fellowship program, which pays new graduates to spend two years working for a federal agency and provides them with mentoring and leadership training. By February, he had landed a position as a foreign affairs officer with the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs.
The job meant he needed to relocate to the Washington, D.C., area, a change that required him and his wife to find an apartment without first seeing it in person, due to the pandemic. Fortunately, he said, they love their new space, which is ideal, given he is spending more time there than he expected.
Venetti completed his employee onboarding virtually and is going into the office one or two days a week and working remotely the other days. Although his job would typically include traveling a couple of times a year to Africa or the Middle East, because of the pandemic, those trips are on hold for now.
But that hasn’t diminished his passion for the work. A former Marine who remains in the reserve corps, Venetti has sought to be a peacemaker since high school, he said. When his wife’s job took the couple to Massachusetts a few years ago, he decided to pursue his master’s degree and began researching his options. He liked what he’d found at UMass Lowell.
“They made me feel like family and have the absolute best peace and conflict studies program, which looks both at the issues on the ground and any underlying problems between countries,” he said. “I’ve only been at my job for a month and I’ve already used what I’ve learned.”
UMass Lowell is a national research university offering its more than 18,000 students bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees in business, education, engineering, fine arts, health, humanities, sciences and social sciences. UMass Lowell delivers high-quality educational programs and personal attention from leading faculty and staff, all of which prepare graduates to be leaders in their communities and around the globe. www.uml.edu