Newswise — The positive impact of school-corporate partnerships on the college and career success of young people is immeasurable. Just as significant is the impact on the corporate culture of businesses like TransPerfect, according to the world’s largest provider of language and technology solutions for global business. 

“TransPerfect is a company where the CEO and other leaders think it’s really important to be philanthropic,” said Jin Lee, Senior Vice President of Global Production at TransPerfect, during a CFES Brilliant Pathways webinar series event. “A lot of companies give donations, but when I started talking about creating a partnership with CFES, I wanted all employees to be involved with students. CFES allows us to be inclusive, so everybody can participate and it becomes ingrained in the culture.” 

Lee, A CFES Board member, and Tabitha Ashura, Manager of Executive Support at TransPerfect, were featured guests on the CFES webinar titled “Partnering to Help Build Tomorrow’s Workforce Today.” TransPerfect and CFES created a partnership in 2019, resulting in job shadowing opportunities for students, mentoring, resume writing and other college and career support. 

“The biggest reason companies like TransPerfect need to help students become career ready is because they are in industries that students can’t conceptualize,” said Ashura.We can show them career paths they might not have considered. It’s also an opportunity for our employees to engage. They like to be involved in the communities they work in, and if they are able to do that through work, they feel more connected to the workplace as well. 

The webinar, moderated by CFES Alumni Director Manny Tejeda, focused on how to build successful partnerships, how young professionals can get involved with causes they are passionate about through work, and how college graduates can succeed in today’s job market. 

Ashura shared some advice with recent college grads about jobs. “Apply for jobs you don’t necessarily think you are qualified for, like I did at TransPerfect. That company may have other positions that fit your skills better.” Don’t be intimidated by daunting job descriptions she added, since companies know most candidates won’t meet every qualification. 

“The reality is that a lot of companies put out job descriptions for their ideal candidate, which may not even exist,” she says. “They might have a list of 30 qualifications and you may only fit some of them, but you won’t know unless you try. It’s okay if you are not perfectly qualified.” 

Once in the job, don’t be afraid to ask a lot of questions, says Lee. “Both Tabitha and I made a ton  of mistakes early on, but we learned from them and were able to grow as professionals and people. You don’t want to stay on the bench and not try. It’s really about effort. Nothing in life that’s really worth it is easy.”