For this “Meet the CSE Series” blog post, CSE Career Captain, Djounia Saint-Fleurant, MBA’24, interviewed Natalie Warila, Assistant Director of Career Strategies.

Creativity, Career Captains, and defining your role with Natalie Warila

For the “Meet the CSE Series”, I had a casual but insightful chat with my manager, Natalie Warila, Assistant Director of Career Strategies. In this interview, we’ll explore Natalie’s role at the CSE and how it has evolved over time. From her innovative revamp of the Career Captain program, to her conceptualization of Professional Presentation Week, we’ll discover how Natalie’s creativity and project management skills have shaped her approach to student development.

– Djounia

Tell us about your role and your main focus. How has your position evolved over the course of your time here at the CSE?

Absolutely! My role progressed over time very naturally. I joined the CSE through a temp agency in 2017 as an Administrator for the Engagement Team, which focuses primarily on the employer-facing side of everything. A few months later, when given the choice of teams, I realized that the parts of my job that I preferred aligned closely with the student-facing Career Strategies Team (skills/professional development, student communications, etc.), so I chose Career Strategies Coordinator.

Now in my current role as Assistant Director of Career Strategies, I’ve been able to keep some of my favorite responsibilities, including managing the CSE Career Captains (the CSE student worker team that I reimagined and rebranded in 2018), and student-facing communications like the CSE Newsletter, while also taking on new and exciting projects, mostly around data and project management.

I get to be fully involved with the student journey, from start, to finish and beyond. For example, during the month of April* I am preparing for the incoming student communications and the resume review process, while also curating content for first year students preparing for their summer internships and field projects, and also tracking employment data for the graduating class, and making sure that they are aware of the resources available during their job search. *This interview was conducted in April, 2023

Quick note – when I joined our students on the Silicon Valley Industry Trek, one of our hosts advised that when you’re starting a new role the most important thing to consider is whether you have a manager/team/company that will help you grow. They stressed that if you’re not able to add new things to your role and really express yourself, then it’s not worth it. 

I’ve been incredibly lucky with my managers and colleagues at the CSE. I think it’s really cool that my current job description includes programming and processes that I myself created or reimagined. I encourage all our students to look for a team that allows them to do the same. 

How have you changed the Career Captain student worker program since you started working here? What is your favorite part about managing the program?

When I first started, the student workers mainly just provided front desk coverage. The first thing I did was rename them from “student worker” to “Career Captain”. The rest was really a testament to the students I’ve had the fortune of hiring and managing since I took over in 2018. Their talents and initiatives have and continue to shape the program ever since.

Now they manage a large part of the resume review process, research and post jobs on Handshake, moderate panels, create content for CSE Connect, and are given opportunities to serve as project managers on events, ongoing services like CSE Walk-ins, and basically any passionate proposal that they bring to me.

They also have a much stronger reputation and brand recognition throughout the Brandeis community, and I think that has raised their confidence and sense of pride in their work. I really have a front row seat to how as individuals they (you) make the Career Captain role your own, and grow both personally and professionally. That’s my absolute favorite part of my job.

What inspired you to create the CSE’s Annual Professional Presentation Week in 2019, and how has it evolved over the past five years? 

We always get a lot of questions from students about what is the appropriate attire for interviews, and I wanted to find a fun way to address that. Inspired by New York Fashion Week, a former CSE team member and I came up with the idea of Professional Presentation Week.

But professional presentation is about so much more than what you wear, so we started creating workshops and challenges around small talk, online presence, body language, and building confidence. The LinkedIn Guy’s workshop has been a recurring part of the event every year. They’re awesome. I highly recommend to any student who wants to stand out online that they should absolutely go to that workshop.

I think the coolest thing I’ve ever come up with is the “CSE Small Talk Challenge” (patent pending – just kidding), which is a favorite of our staff and faculty because it gives them an opportunity to get to know our students outside of the classroom. 

Overall I try to keep the events fun and light-hearted, even though we’re covering topics that can be intimidating. Next spring, we’re hoping to add additional events and/or specific workshops related to diversity, inclusion, and professional presentation.

Djounia: Professional Presentation Week was an absolute blast! I had an amazing time attending the different events this year and witnessing my peers’ enthusiastic participation. I hope that the initiative will continue to grow and become even more captivating each year. I think an event showing students how to navigate a dining table in a formal setting would be really helpful.

Absolutely! Well, you’ll be here (on the team) next spring, so we can talk about ways to integrate something like that in. And that’s why I love the Career Captain Team. You help me come up with ideas.

How have your Psychology Degree and Master’s in Digital Marketing and Design helped you approach challenges or projects in new and innovative ways? 

While my psychology degree may not directly relate to my work, it has helped me understand the importance of considering how people think and why they prioritize certain things.

As for my master’s degree, I completed it with Brandeis GPS while working at the CSE. I was taking courses on topics like Informational Hierarchy and Writing for Digital Environments, while simultaneously onboarding CSE Connect as our new website. I basically felt like I was doing a mini field project, in that I was able to apply the skills I was learning in real time. 

One of the most impactful courses I took was in project management; it structured my approach to projects and helped me improve my overall work process. I highly recommend students to consider taking a project management course as it can be beneficial in any field.

Djounia: I couldn’t agree more about the project management course. There’s a PMP certification that is widely recognized and can be a valuable asset for students. Your project management skills are evident, and I’ve also noticed that you place a strong emphasis on creativity in your approach to every project. This leads us to our next question.

Do you think students can incorporate creativity into their job search strategies? How would you encourage them to leverage their creativity to stand out in the job market?

I love creativity and I believe that people are more creative than they realize. There are numerous outlets for creativity, beyond just visual creativity – which I do also value and encourage. Everyone should be able to put together some sort of presentation to display their work, even if visual creativity isn’t something that comes naturally to them. It’s a skill that’s absolutely worth taking the time to learn.

Creativity and critical thinking are essential in any role, and I actively seek it when hiring our Career Captains. You need to be able to come up with creative solutions and “think outside the box.” Honestly, I almost hate that term “think outside the box”, because it sounds like you have to come up with some wild and unexpected solution, but that’s not quite right.

We absorb so much different information on a regular basis, and a lot of times people think in a very streamlined way, like “I’m thinking about this specific finance role, and so what I watched on tv last week, or the conversation I had with this classmate about something else isn’t going to apply in any way, so I’m going to shut it out of my mind”. But I think if you’re cross-functional and open to approaching things differently, you’ll surprise yourself with how creative you can be, and the positive impact your ideas could have beyond the situation at hand.

With shrinking attention spans, creativity and critical thinking have become even more crucial in reaching and captivating people in general, including clients. 

And everyone values a teammate who considers the cross-team ramifications of their new ideas and implemented changes.

Djounia: I appreciate your perspective on creativity and critical thinking. It’s refreshing to hear how you value different forms of creativity, including visual creativity and innovative problem-solving. Now, given your diverse interests and appreciation for memes, I’m curious to learn about your go-to small talk topic.

What’s your favorite small talk topic? If a student wanted to initiate a fun conversation with you, what should they talk about?

I’m open to talking about anything, but TV shows and music are my go-to topics. Lately I’ve been really interested in hearing about different dance styles. Basically, anything you (the student) are passionate about, I love talking about with you, even if it’s exercise and cooking (bleh).