Welcome back to Moving from College to Career! In this space, we share practical insights to help you explore career paths and prepare for recruiting.
As always, our goal is usefulness over noise. If there's a topic you're curious about, just reply. We'd love to hear from you.
Today's Tactics: 3 Things Our Presenters Said Worth Remembering
We're four weeks into our Summer 2026 program, and our presenters have already shared more useful advice than we could possibly fit into one newsletter. We're planning to do this periodically throughout the summer: pull out a handful of the most relevant and actionable pieces of advice for where you are right now.
1. Practice having a take, and defending it
Derek Melvin works in sales and trading at Morgan Stanley, where the job comes down to one constant skill across every seat on the desk.
"It's how do you process information, how do you actually develop a point of view, how do you back that point of view up, and then how do you try to convince others that your point of view is right?... that's all we're doing all day long. And the folks that tend to rise to the top are ones that can do that best."
You can practice this right now. Pick something you're learning in class or scrolling past in the news, form an actual opinion on it instead of defaulting to "it's complicated," and explain your reasoning to a friend who disagrees.
2. Bigger isn't automatically better
Mary Coffin spent years at PwC, one of the largest accounting firms in the world, before moving to a four-person advisory shop with her father. She'll tell you the big-company years taught her real fundamentals: how to write a great email, manage people above and below her, and meet deadlines under pressure. She's clear that she only has the confidence she does now at a small firm because she went big first.
When you're choosing between a big-name internship and a smaller, scrappier one, you're not just picking a company. You're picking what kind of summer you want: more structure and visibility, or more ownership and exposure to everything at once. Neither is the "right" choice. They're just different, and both can teach you something the other can't.
3. Translate your past experience into a pitch for what's next
Hagan Ramsey, who works in private equity, took a winding path through advertising and consulting before landing where he is now. His advice for anyone navigating a transition starts with a simple exercise: name the strengths and interests behind whatever you did before, then notice where those same things show up in what you want to do next.
You don't need a polished career story to have something worth pitching. That part-time job, that club you run, that random project, all of it taught you something transferable. The skill isn't having the perfect experience. It's learning to name what you got out of the experience you already have.
Alumni Spotlight: Finding the Confidence to Pursue What You're Passionate About
Reeves Jones (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill '25) is now an Event Executive at Octagon.
In his words: "I have a lot to thank Introships for. The program gave me the right confidence to pursue a career path I was passionate about by equipping me with the right resources and knowledge."
We hope you found this helpful. Feel free to reply with questions or feedback, and stay tuned for more from Introships on LinkedIn and Instagram!
Joe Fiveash & Sean Wetmore
