Ifeoluwa (Ife) Obayan '19
Concentration: Biomedical Engineering and Social Anthropology
House: Leverett
Hometown: Arlington, Texas
Ife Obayan is a Campus Interview Program Assistant for the Office of Career Services (OCS). Most of her time is spent in the office at 54 Dunster, but she also helps out at career fairs and at OCS’s on-campus interview facility in the SOCH, which outside companies can use to interview students.
Ife has worked for OCS since the beginning of her sophomore year, and tries to work at least 6 hours a week when her schedule permits. Daily, she manages archiving correspondence with recruiters, inputting the office’s events into the website calendar, and keeping up with student events on campus. Her long-term projects often revolve around recruiting season in the fall, a “very busy time” for the Campus Interview Program, she said.
"I've helped in finding new firms and companies to reach out to in order to encourage them to recruit Harvard students and also organizing an alumni database of recruiters from firms that are a part of the campus interview program,” Ife said.
Being so close to the interview program has helped her develop her own professional skills, too; “I've learned how to navigate career fairs and networking sessions. It also made me more comfortable working in Excel, doing administrative, organizational tasks,” she said.
Ife was drawn to the role because of her desire to become and stay knowledgeable about the resources around her, and to have the ability to share that knowledge with others. Speaking of her role, she said, “I especially love that I am privy to programming and information that I can then encourage my friends to look into or participate in.”
On campus, Ife has been involved in the Harvard Crimson, the Black Students Association, and the Nigerian Students Association, each of which have contributed majorly to her college experience. Her job at OCS, she says, has also been “wonderful.”
She said, “I think Harvard students often forget that the University employees so many knowledgeable, experienced, and helpful people outside of the teaching faculty. Throughout my time at OCS, I've received not only great career advice but wisdom about life lessons from people who are caring and understanding about what it is like to be a student here.”