Seniors are uncertain and conflicted about entering a remote workforce

By Jacqueline Mastrelli

The seniors of Saint Mary’s believe that remote work is here to stay. Holly Nguyen, President of the Marketing Club said, “I definitely think it will become part of our culture.” Data from management consulting firm, McKinsey & Company, backs her up. After performing a global analysis, they have concluded that “hybrid models of remote work are likely to persist in the 
wake of the pandemic.” 
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Although many students embrace the freedom and efficiency of remote work, most have a sober understanding of the unique challenges that come with it. Daniela Catubig, President of the Gael Women in Business Club, is looking forward to a hybrid-remote model with Salesforce after graduation. But she admits that “[remote work] is hard because I get distracted when I’m at home. I’m alone with my phone without anyone to hold me accountable.” 

Daniela proves that there are solutions to everything; during her summer internship with Salesforce, she would create a Zoom room with friends where they would be able to get their work done and hold each other accountable. The MO was, “Don’t talk, let’s just work and stay focused.” Despite this, she is ultimately pro remote work and looks forward to the way it will give her the opportunity to spend more time with her family in the future. 

Holly Nguyen also worked a remote internship over the summer but found the negatives outweigh the positives. She found remote work unnecessarily difficult because “response times to my questions were slow and it was hard to be shown how to do something.” Looking back at the internship, she concludes that her virtual training didn’t properly prepare her for the position. “It was super quick. Then they were just like alright, now do what we just showed you.” Moving forward, she is “98% sure” she is going to be working in-person post-graduation, something she is looking forward to.