Meet recent Graduate and Peer Advisor Aaliyah Quintal!
By Gabby Grondalski & Grace Keller
Aaliyah Quintal is from Fall River, MA, and a recent graduate from UMass Amherst with a double major in English and Communication. When she graduated high school, attending UMass appealed to her for multiple reasons. Aaliyah was already familiar with the UMass system because she had friends who attended UMass Dartmouth. The size of UMass Amherst was something she saw as an advantage, providing a wide range of opportunities and having a multitude of diverse degrees to pursue.
During her first semester, Aaliyah pursued a degree in English, hoping to become a teacher. However, she quickly discovered teaching was no longer an interest of hers and used her second semester to explore another major. She enrolled in both Journalism and Communication courses and found both to be enjoyable. Aaliyah decided to pursue the Communication major because she liked that it was open-ended and allowed her to diversify her skill set.
Towards the end of her sophomore year, she wanted to become more involved with the Communication Department. Aaliyah saw the email about becoming a Communication Peer Advisor and decided to apply. She found that she had a love for advising. “If you have a small interest in wanting to be involved in the department, or even considering it, Peer Advising is an excellent way to do so.” While a Peer Advisor, Aaliyah found attending department events and connecting with the attendees to be one of her favorite parts. She loved meeting everyone who attended and seeing how they genuinely wanted to attend. “I have had many students have such a positive reaction to our events. I remember junior year being in charge of taking Linkedin photos, and so many students attended. They were all happy to have access to these services, and we even had a non-Comm student come to the event and ask for their photo to be taken.”
As a Peer Advisor, one of her biggest takeaways was the importance of having motivation and a strong work ethic. Aaliyah found those skills grew from being a Peer Advisor as it built on her student and employee roles. “You are treated less like a student and more as a colleague, and you gain a lot of professional development.”
During her time at UMass, Aaliyah held multiple internships, both on campus and during the summer. Her sophomore year she was an Event Intern for Koffee Haus, which was located in the Butterfield residential hall. During the same semester, she also interned with Women for UMass, a non-profit on campus that assists female-identifying individuals at UMass and in the Amherst area. With Women for UMass, Aaliyah was a Special Events and Development Intern and assisted in planning events from October until March/April. She also held a Marketing Communications internship with UMass from her junior through senior year. During this internship, Aaliyah created social media content to attract the consideration of prospective students.
Aaliyah held her first non-UMass internship during the summer leading into her junior year with Dassault Systèmes as a Marketing Communications Intern. “I think if I had not done the things I had done on campus, I would not have landed that job. I highly recommend seeing what you can find on campus, especially if you aren’t able to have an internship during the summer or are struggling to find an internship that is paid.” As she moved into her senior year, Aaliyah worked virtually as an Internal Communications intern with General Motors.
Aaliyah graduated in December 2020 and now works for Epsilon as an Associate Account Executive. The company provides outcome-based marketing over a wide span of industries. Aaliyah is positioned in the pharmaceutical industry and currently has one client. In her position, she works behind the scenes, specifically with data and project management. Entering the workforce, she felt lucky to have had her internship with General Motor because it was not canceled due to the pandemic. Aaliyah found the job application process long and most of her interviews occurred during November. “The biggest thing I realized while applying for jobs was that you can apply at any time, but one to two months before you graduate is the sweet spot as businesses want you to start as soon as possible.”
Though Aaliyah found a job upon graduating, she found the process to be difficult. Even with her experience she faced some defeats and frustration but continued to apply. “Applying to jobs and internships feels like a full-time job. You should feel like you are doing it a lot. There were times I felt down and defeated, but I made it my purpose to keep applying.” In total, she applied to over 100 jobs.
Aaliyah hopes to pass a few pieces of advice to students, whether they are looking for an internship or job after graduation. The first piece, though it may be cliché, is that everything will work out in the end. “At the moment, I was stressed out of my mind … If I could go back and tell myself, ‘yes things work out, yes take mental health days if you are upset, but don’t be your own worst enemy’”. She encourages staying diligent and keeping in mind that others are applying as well. Second, Aaliyah also suggests using LinkedIn while searching for internships or jobs. “It is where I found all of my internships, outside of UMass, and my current job. LinkedIn is also really good at deleting old things.” LinkedIn also allows you to set alerts for jobs with keywords, as well as track companies you may be even remotely interested in. Her third and final piece of advice is to apply for jobs for which you may not be qualified. “It doesn’t cost any money to apply, and they aren’t going to laugh at you. Apply to anything you have a remote interest in or you think is interesting, as you may never know if it will work out or what you are going to like.”