In May 2016, San Diego State University student Devon Quenga, like many college students, was struggling with questions about the future of his career. He had just been denied acceptance to an very competitive academic program, and had been applying to internships for months with little progress. “Since February, I had been looking extensively for internships and I wasn’t getting any calls back. By May, I was pretty down in the dumps — until I came across CONNECT2Careers,” Devon told us.

Devon is involved in San Diego State University’s . He learned about CONNECT2Careers (C2C) when an advisor for EOP sent an email with information about it. Devon got to work on C2C’s online job search portal immediately. “I struck while the iron was hot and opened a profile on C2C’s website. C2C sped up and streamlined my job search process. I wish I had found the website sooner because I spent a lot of time between classes and work trying to find the right internship for me. The filters on the job portal narrowed down my search to opportunities that were relevant to me, and my peer job coach kept in contact with me throughout the whole process.”

Devon was particularly grateful for the support of his peer job coach, Izaac. “I was surprised when Izaac texted me and responded to my questions via text,” he says. “It really felt like a friend was helping me land a job.”

Less than a month after creating his account, Devon was offered a paid health promotion internship with . As a part of the , Sharp provides internship opportunities in a variety of the organization’s departments — from operations to human resources, information technology and finance.

Devon was thrilled with his placement. “I had only worked at a restaurant and at a retail store before, and I wanted an opportunity relevant to my career goals. I am a public health major. I actually got to put my major to practice. The internship revolved around health coordination and health promotion, which are major components of public health. After completing the internship, I have a better sense of what my future career will be. Without a doubt, this internship will open more doors for me.”

Opportunities like the one offered to Devon provide a unique benefit to both the intern and the employer. Devon now has a firm foundation for a career in public health, and Sharp HealthCare has built the strength of its candidate pool — creating a pipeline of well-prepared talent for future full-time hires.