Jason Wu

How did you pick your career? Did you know all along?

I did not know all along that I would get into University Recruiting/Student Outreach. Back in High School, I was really interested in Industrial/Organizational Psychology (observing/researching behavioral patterns in various business settings). I double majored in Psychology and Business Management, was a research assistant in an Industrial/Organizational Psychology lab on-campus for a while. I thought about getting my PhD in I/O Psychology and go into consulting, but I became disenchanted with the idea of 5-7 years of full-time school, and not having much work experience to show for it. I knew I wanted to help others help themselves within the work environment because overall, the work environment requires a different set of behaviors, and looking at ways to improve the work culture sounded really interesting to me. It wasn't until the Fall of my senior year, I was working in Employer Relations at the campus Career Center. I met a campus recruiter from Microsoft. I always thought you had to be a software engineer of sorts to recruit at campuses. I was able to speak with her, and had a great conversation with her about what she did and how she got to where she was, and I found it really interesting. Like my role at the career center, I would be helping students at various campuses improve themselves and navigate the application/interview process at a tech company. From then on, I started looking into recruiting/HR positions to pursue university recruiting. I did a lot of other things along the way to set myself up for success, but looking realizing early on that I didn't want to pursue a PhD, then doing other research and networking helped me get to where I am today.

In layperson terms, what do you actually do at work?

General Summaries of my job responsibilities: -Use data to understand how to better prepare students for jobs at Google (resume reviews, tech interview workshops, mock interviews, etc.) -Promote the culture of Google to make it appealing for students to even consider applying (Culture presentations, Google Swag, site visits, etc.) -I make sure that students at the schools I recruit from know what jobs are currently available, how to apply, and how to navigate that interview process. AND MORE!

Did anyone ever oppose your career plans when you were young or push you in a direction you did not want to go?

I was fortunate to have teachers/professors/friends who supported me and helped me on my journey to where I am now, though I definitely had some opposition when I told my mother I wanted to go into I/O Psychology & Recruiting. She held onto the mentality that I should be pursuing a STEM degree and we had quite a few arguments over my career path. In the end, she was just anxious for me since she herself did not know what lay ahead for me. In response, I did a lot of research into I/O Psychology & Recruiting, getting information and links to articles to explain what they are, and what I would be doing further down the line. After calmly presenting these findings to her, she came to understand, and dialed back her opposition (though it still lingers a little to this day). This experience forced me to really understand what I wanted to do early on. Presenting a plan to my mother definitely helped calm her down, but also calmed me down. She was worried about my future, and so was I, and although nobody knows what the future holds, setting a goal/path for myself helped me focus on my schooling & professional brand to get to where I am today, and I could not be more grateful.

When you were a student, did you do anything outside of school to build skills or get knowledge that has helped your career?

I was a bit of an over-achiever in both HS & Undergrad. Below is a list of things that I was a part of during undergrad: -Marketing Assistant for the New York City Asian-American Student Conference (NYCAASC) Fall 2015-Spring 2016 -Asian Students Alliance (Cabinet Representative, PR) -Chinese Association at Stony Brook (Cabinet Representative, PR) -Member of at most 2 dance teams at a time -Research Assistant for an I/O Psych Lab on-campus -Employer Relations Assistant (Senior Year) -Assistant to the VP of Academic Affairs (Spring 2014) -Organizer of the Asian Student Coalition (Fall 2014-Spring 2016) -Head Coordinator for the New England Chinese Youth Summer Camp (Summers 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015) **And others that escape me now** I followed my both my academic & extracurricular interests and looked for leadership positions in all of them. Though I wasn't a leader in ALL of these, I learned a lot about being a follower vs. a leader, professionalism, team-work, innovation/creativity, and much more. Don't be afraid to trying something new! Diversifying the experiences you have exposes you to many new situations in which you can learn about other people, as well as yourself.