Teddy Vickers, age 24
Company: Amherst College Office of Admission
Location: Amherst, Mass.
After 13 interviews for finance jobs -- and having one job offer rescinded when a prominent investment firm cut its undergraduate internship program -- Teddy Vickers decided to pursue another interest: education.
He took a job with his school, Amherst, in the college's Office of Admission, where he helps admissions deans run information sessions and leads three one-hour tours for prospective students each day.
"It's a sales pitch over and over," he says, "and it's a product that I'm passionate about." Vickers says he loves the marketing element of his job and appreciates the public speaking practice.
He also organizes Amherst's "telementoring" program, pairing 135 high school seniors from underserved public schools with Amherst student volunteers who advise them over the phone throughout the college application process.
A Canadian, Vickers didn't know the extent of the disparities in the U.S. education system before taking the job. "It's definitely opened my eyes," he says -- so much so that he's now exploring graduate work in education.
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