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Equipped With the Proper Skills – Abigail Crooks

After graduating from Meredith with her degree in business administration, Abigail Crooks, ’20, will begin a career as a Marketing Specialist at Cisco, an award-winning company in Raleigh where she interned the summer before her senior year.

Abigail is thankful to Meredith for equipping her with the skills and resources needed to secure a job months before graduation. “The faculty at Meredith go above and beyond their duties to help you succeed.” She said, “Anything you want to achieve seems possible with the support system you have here.”

One of the top reasons Abigail chose Meredith was because she knew she’d have help landing a job after graduation. She leveraged the expertise of the Office of Career Planning (OCP) throughout the interview process with Cisco to increase her chances of receiving an offer. OCP assists students with mock interviews, negotiating, and resume writing.

Once Abigail received an offer letter, OCP helped her review it and understand what she was accepting so that she knew it was fair. “If I went to a bigger school, I wouldn’t have gotten the one-on-one attention and direction that led me to where I am now,” said Abigail.

Leading up to her internship with Cisco, Abigail took advantage of several opportunities on campus that allowed her to build on her strengths. She got involved in student leadership as a sophomore when she became a student advisor. From there, she became assistant chief of the program and was later promoted to chief advisor her senior year. “Getting to be a part of shaping students’ first experiences at Meredith is so rewarding,” said Abigail.

Abigail also led a class of students through Meredith’s First Year Experience program, which led to an internship opportunity with the Office of Retention and Student Success. Through working with her internship supervisors in that role, she became more aware of her strengths and areas for improvement. Abigail said having that self-awareness made it easier for her to succeed in her off-campus internship with Cisco.

“Going into an internship aware of my strengths allowed me to recognize what I would be best at in my role,” said Abigail. She thanks her mentors at Meredith for encouraging her to take on challenges and helping her learn the steps she needed to take in order to be successful on and off campus.

“I have already achieved so many goals in life and I owe a lot of it to Meredith for making me the strong, confident woman I am today.”