-by Adrienne Johnson ’16
“Have you ever worked with numbers?” “Give an example of an experience you’ve had with analytical work.” “Have you ever worked on a team?”
These are questions I’ve recently had fired my way, since I’m a senior wrapping up my job search. Fortunately, I was able to immediately respond to all of these by thinking back on my past three years as a research assistant at the Berger Institute. While my international relations coursework provides me the opportunity to explore topics I find stimulating and strengthen my writing skills, my numbers-based analytical skills were lacking throughout my academic career at CMC. Working at Berger has helped fill this gap in my skillset. For example, while working on the Work-Life project, we performed statistical analyses observing the correlations between people of different college majors and their longterm goals. Gaining a basic knowledge of statistical analysis has thoroughly benefitted me in my career search, as my major is less applicable to my career goals.
Likewise, in interviews I spoke to my experiences working on a team at the Berger Institute. I know I can be a strong team player because I have been one for almost three years. We’ve conducted three-hour brainstorming sessions, planned our survey questions and bounced ideas off of each other. My Berger experience has allowed me to develop transferrable skills for my professional life, which I look forward to starting soon.
