Career Highlight

"Students navigating education and internships during the pandemic, unfortunately, lost out on a lot of networking experiences that can be fundamental to their job search and company connectivity. At a time where Gen Z is now craving human and personalized interactions, our team set a goal to generate more connectedness amongst peers - for idea sharing, networking and growth. At Ciena, we have led programs on campus focusing on career readiness, offering LinkedIn and resume workshops, diversity workshops, and networking events that support 1:1 interaction between hiring managers and candidates. In addition, we recognize that our current intern groups may be future candidates as they seek new grad or other internship opportunities. As a result, we have crafted an intern mentorship program that piloted this year. It mimics a successful program we facilitate for New Grad Mentorship Circles, where the feedback has been very positive. The intern mentorship program partners small groups of students with mentors who are 2-4 years into their career. The program is 'powered by peers' to leverage unique energies, experiences and cross-teaching on skills and sharing of different perspectives. The goal is to help Gen Z feel more connected to their peers and workplace, to accelerate growth, while affording mentors the opportunity to 'give-back' and share more about the experiences that helped them during their career journey and application processes."