Sabrina Krasner '23, G '24 has never applied for a job, but as Commencement drew closer, she had plenty of job offers to choose from.
Sabrina wanted to be an architect, but that high school dream evolved when she got to Siena and better understood the day-to-day responsibilities.
"I realized I didn't want to sit behind a desk all day. I still wanted to be in the industry – it's fast-paced like lacrosse – but I wanted to be on the job site."
Siena's starting goalie scored an internship with a construction company and shadowed the role of a project manager. She learned how to work with sub-contractors, architects, and engineers. There are a lot of moving parts involved in any construction, and it's always a priority to start and end on time. In many ways, that burden falls on the project manager – and it's a position she relished.
"I like being there at the start of a project, when there's nothing there, and you're part of a team that accomplishes this end goal with people living in or working in this new building. There's this tangible goal that you strive for – you don't always get that in other work places."
Following her internship, Sabrina was connected with Mark Frost, Siena's AVP for facilities management. He opened up his network to Sabrina, and a few informal conversations later, job offers started rolling in.
"That's the construction world. They're very aggressive in employment."
Sabrina's bachelor's in finance, her pending graduate degree in strategic management, coupled with her internship experience and success as a student athlete, made for a formidable resume. No application was required. That was also true when Sabrina was connected (through a teammate on the lacrosse team) with an executive at Premier Design + Build Group in Iselin, NJ, 25 miles from Sabrina's hometown. The executive is an RPI graduate, and they hit it off talking about the Capital Region. Once again, there was a job offer without a formal application or interview. This time, she accepted the role of project engineer. She starts on June 3.
"Siena got me out of my shell. I gained confidence in meeting new people and making connections. That's how I got my job – by making contacts and using my Siena network. This place has given me a lot... including two degrees."
