Hawks Hired! Caterina Liseo ’23

Hawks Hired highlights the accomplishments of soon to be RWU graduates as they finalize the next steps on their career journeys. Caterina will soon be employed at VHB Providence as a Highway Design Engineer. Read on to learn more about her next chapter following graduation.

What is your major/was your major at RWU? My major is Civil Engineering.

Graduation year? I will be graduating in 2023.

Where is your next adventure? I will be working as a highway design engineer at VHB in their Providence office.

What was the process like of landing this job/next opportunity? In October I started researching to see which companies I would be interested in working at. VHB came up a few times and I had heard only positive comments about them from a classmate who interned with them. They had a job posting for a position I knew I had an interest in, so I decided to apply. I ended up having two interviews with them, and shortly after the second interview I received an offer. I was very excited and decided to accept the offer as it was for a position that would allow me to build off of what I was doing at my previous summer internship.

Who helped you during your job search/graduate school process? During the fall semester I took an engineering senior seminar course that required me to work on my cover letter, resume, and had me complete a mock interview. This combined with using the career center to further review my resume/cover letter was very beneficial in getting me ready to apply and allowed me to be prepared for interviews. In addition to this my family provided guidance in my decision making.

What advice do you have to students who are in the process of finding a job? I highly recommend starting this process early. Even if you are not ready to apply for a job first semester of your senior year, start looking at companies to help figure out what type of company you want to work for and what kind of job you want to apply for. Look at the websites and even reach out to current employees to see if the atmosphere matches what you are looking for. By doing this, when you are ready to apply, it will hopefully be less overwhelming. I also strongly recommend utilizing the resources at the career center- have them review your resume/cover letter, and do a mock interview, they are more than willing to help and really will work to prepare you.

Want to share your next steps with the CCPD? Email Kevin (kdeeb@rwu.edu) in the CCPD to learn more about sharing with us!

By Kevin Deeb
Kevin Deeb Career Advisor