ACE Senior Profiles: Catherine Kang and Francis Tan
For many Santa Clara University seniors, spring quarter is a bittersweet time. Looking back, seniors have been through four years of ups and downs… but the best is yet to come. Looking forward into the future, let’s take a glimpse at where two of our ACE seniors, Cathering Kang and Francis Tan, will be in the coming years.
Catherine Kang, a finance major, will be starting at Intel as a Financial Analyst where she will be “conducting business analysis strategy and [providing] financial consulting… to drive profit growth.” As she looks forward to starting at Intel, Catherine is excited to work on impactful projects with her future team and be a part of Intel’s innovative and flexible work culture.
Looking back, Catherine explains that the career preparation she completed through ACE truly helped her through the job search process. She reveals that “ACE helped [her] develop the interview skills to prep well for the process and enabled [her] to reach out to alumni on LinkedIn.” She also utilized well-practiced networking skills to draw Intel’s interest when they came to recruit at SCU for the first time.
Before she jumps into her new career, Catherine plans on traveling to Europe to visit Greece, the South of France, Berlin, and London in addition to continuing her volunteer and foster work with the Humane Society.
Francis Tan, who is also a finance major, will be joining NetApp’s Central Program Management Office team as a Program Manager. As a Program Manager, Francis will be responsible for managing and implementing IT oriented systems. Specifically, he will “drive initiatives that enhance process documentation, improve overall performance, and build and create solutions to supplement process improvement projects.” At NetApp, Francis is excited to work with cross-functional teams and take on a number of diverse and challenging projects.
Francis was first connected with NetApp at an on-campus career fair. After doing research about the company, Francis utilized many of the networking skills he had learned through ACE to reach out to a number of people who provided him a better opportunity to secure a full-time position at NetApp. In addition, Francis’s experiences in ACE “provided [him] with the framework and confidence to talk to professionals and confidently pitch [his] skills and experience.”
Following graduation, Francis had originally planned a backpacking trip to explore Asia. However, with his start-date posted at two weeks after graduation, he has decided to explore Seattle for the first time instead.
Best of luck to Catherine and Francis and all of our graduating seniors!