When senior Juliana Bevacqua returned to campus this January, she was frustrated with her job search.
Bevacqua, a marine affairs major at the University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Atmospheric, Marine, and Earth Science, had applied for a few different positions but received few responses and no interviews. She knew she wanted to work somewhere near her hometown of Brick, New Jersey, although she was unsure how to translate her coursework, part-time work as a scuba divemaster, and internship at the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection into a full-time position.
“I was just searching job platforms like Handshake, but I did not have a clear path of ‘this is exactly I want to do,’” said Bevacqua, who is also minoring in business management.
She soon began meeting with University alumnus Richard Pollack, a partner and director of forensic and advisory services at the Miami accounting firm Berkowitz Pollack Brant. The pair met through the Toppel Career Center’s Alumni Career Champions program, which has matched 149 students with alumni mentors since 2024. Soon after, they began meeting every other week virtually, and Pollack helped Bevacqua narrow down her career interests.
“I didn’t know where to start or begin, so having [Mr. Pollack’s] guidance helped push me out of my comfort zone,” she added. “Also, having someone in your corner to constantly support you and to redirect you through the job search was great.”
One day, after chatting with Bevacqua about her resume, Pollack was driving and saw a sign for a marine insurance company. He thought about her ability to assess risk, which she learned through teaching scuba diving, as well as her marine policy courses. Pollack decided to float the idea of marine underwriting, and Bevacqua quickly came around.
“He spurred my research and got me in touch with a friend of his in the insurance industry,” she said.
A few weeks later, after applying to a few insurance postings, Bevacqua got a phone call from Chubb Insurance. They wanted to interview her. She prepared with Pollack, and after a few more interviews, Bevacqua received an offer as an underwriter in training for Chubb. Ecstatic about the chance to enter the marine underwriting industry, she quickly accepted it. Bevacqua credits her mentor as an invaluable resource. She is not the only student who has found success from mentoring experiences with alumni, Toppel staff said.
“If it weren’t for my conversations with [Mr. Pollack], I don’t think I would’ve found a job after graduation,” Bevacqua said. “Before I had the interview, he gave me tips on how to prepare for it and what he looks for in potential employees, which includes a lot of analytical skills. He was a great mentor to have.”
Pollack entered the University in the 1970s as a baseball player, but after enduring a shoulder injury sophomore year, he began to focus on his business classes. Professor Manny Zaiac made accounting interesting to Pollack, and he soon realized that the field allowed him to fully understand a business’s operations. He now has more than five decades of forensic accounting and management experience under his belt. When it came to mentoring, he said Bevacqua did most of the work.
“I gave her a little bit of direction and helped her to get ready for the interview, and then she just did it on her own really,” said Pollack, who teaches a mentoring course for young employees at his firm and worked with another graduating Hurricane in the past. “Juliana asks a lot of questions, and I could see she had the work ethic from my brief conversations with her. She is also very likable, so she must have clicked with the people from Chubb.”
Pollack looks forward to mentoring other aspiring professionals in the future. Ali Rodriguez, executive director of career services at Toppel, said that he was one of many alumni they hope to continue to include as mentors through the career center’s Cane2Cane platform, which links alumni with current students.
“We are hearing really positive feedback from students and alums about the interactions that they have been having through this program,” Rodriguez said. “We hope to hear more positive outcomes of connections with alumni, since students have told us that mentorship has helped them dramatically in terms of career development.”
Pollack offered a few tips for students entering the job market:
- Have a thirst to want to learn, grow, and get out of your comfort zone. If you are a little introverted, try to do things that are more extroverted.
- Do your research before the interview and understand as much as you can about the company and people you are interviewing with so you can go in prepared.
- Get a good night’s sleep before the interview and treat it as an experience. Stay optimistic.
- Realize that sometimes you have to start out with something that is not the dream job.
- Thank people for the interview and tell them how much you enjoyed it. Write a thank you note, too.
- Networking is key, and you should never close the door on a person or an entity. Sometimes family and friends can help you get a job, and that’s ok.
Overall, Pollack said one of Bevacqua’s strengths was that she remained open-minded about future positions.
“That’s how she found this job, so students need to think about how theyto apply to other fields,” he added. “Knowing yourself and what your strengths are is very important.”
For alumni or friends of the University who would like to connect with students, please join our Cane2Cane community at this link.
