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In January, Christina Seckar '96, human resources manager at Schlumberger in Princeton Junction, N.J., opened the doors of her office to Leslie Saint '04 as part of Lafayette's externship program.
Saint enjoyed the opportunity to gain first-hand knowledge of the working world, learning about a variety of human resources issues including employee relations, performance appraisals, compensation, benefits, and general management issues for this oil field services and technology company.
“I think Leslie got a pretty full dose of the variety of tasks a human resources professional experiences during her externship,” says Seckar. “She was introduced to the legal side of the job. While she was here, we dealt with some employee relations issues, and she also sat in on a management meeting. She also saw what goes on during the appraisal process, as we were in the middle of employee evaluations.”
“I really enjoyed the externship,” says Saint, who is majoring in psychology. “I'm particularly interested to see how business, psychology, and law all relate in the field of human resources. There were a lot of issues that I never considered would come into play, particularly with performance appraisals and some of the legal aspects of human resources.”
Seckar, who describes Saint as “very interested, very professional, and very inquisitive,” was eager to give back to Lafayette by offering an externship to psychology majors.
“I did an externship when I was in school, and I know how much it helped me,” she says. “It feels great to return the favor.”
Saint was intrigued to extern with Seckar, since she is a relatively new entry into the workforce.
“It's good to get a young person's perspective. She hasn't been out of school too long, so I think she remembers what it's like to make career choices,” she said.
Regarding her experience at Lafayette, Saint says, “I'm really enjoying my time here and am looking forward to expanding on leadership roles. I especially like the small community atmosphere at Lafayette.”
Saint is a residence adviser and participates in the After-School Tutoring program and Kids in the Community, which are programs of sustained voluntary service that students conduct annually under the auspices of Lafayette's Landis Community Outreach Center.