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Alumni-Student Connections: Leveraging the skills taught at GPS

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The following is part of the Alumni-Student Connections Series, highlighting some of our students who have been recruited by our alumni. This series shows the power of connection between current students and our alumni.

Jonathan Furszyfer ’13, who serves as director of research at the Poverty, Violence, and Governance Lab at Stanford University, believes in the benefits of hiring within the GPS network. Here, he highlights the skills that GPS candidate Jaclyn Fierro ’17 had that prompted him to hire within the program.

Jonathan Furszyfer ’13

Why did you choose to hire a fellow “GPSer”?  

When I was director of impact evaluation at Mexico Evalua, a think tank based in Mexico City, I wanted to hire GPS students to consolidate my data science team. In comparison to other master’s programs, the program design and evaluation specialization at GPS forms students with solid and state-of-the-art foundations on quantitative methods, data management, research design and critical thinking. These skills are key to producing insights to solve real-world problems.

What tips do you have for students about the hiring process? 

1. Dedicate most of your time working on a solid resume.

2. Think about how your professional experience and education could bring added value to the hiring companies.

3. A good resume has to contain a list of your activities and more importantly, how your work created impact or helped your team to open a new avenue of projects.

Overall thoughts about your experience? 

Working with GPS students was a unique and fulfilling experience. I learned so much about Jaclyn. She was insightful, curious and diligent. She brought new ideas to conduct policy research and developed interesting models to analyze social problems in Mexico. If you are interested in opening internship positions, always consider a GPS student. You won’t be disappointed!

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