The Chautauqua Advancement Project provided me the opportunity to immerse myself in a professional work environment with the Jamestown Savings Bank Arena, gaining experience across multiple departments within the organization. Chautauqua Works has working relationships with many of the county’s major businesses and organizations which results in all of the placement locations being phenomenal opportunities for potential interns. As a result of my internship through the CAP program I was introduced to business owners, entrepreneurs, executive directors, elected officials, and major players in the community that I still work with today. The foundation of my professional career was laid by the hands of the staff at Chautauqua Works, and they are a very responsive and caring staff that will do their best to place you at a work site that makes sense for your career goals. The Chautauqua Advancement Project is a unique internship program as it is designed for people already with a college degree that just haven’t found the right job yet. The thing that stands out to me the most from my experience is the way the staff at Chautauqua Works viewed and treated the interns. My educational background is in Marketing and Business Administration, and although I still use the basic principles from my schooling I learned that your degree doesn’t put you in a box that only allows you to do so many things. Sue McNamara and the Chautauqua Works staff really makes an effort to get to know each person they work with, what skills are strong, what skills need to be worked on, etc and from that they create a plan for you. That plan consists of placing you in the right work site, introducing you to the right people, pushing you when you need to be pushed, and helping you when you need to be helped. I was lucky enough to receive a job offer following my internship, and I know I wasn’t the only one. I have been with the arena for going on 3 years now and it all started with the CAP program. The experience was such a rewarding way to start my professional career, and really gives you the chance to see the “real world” work environment in a way most people can’t. All the interns toured all the work sites, we learned so much about everything happening in the county, and it’s a PAID internship. I support this program 100% and if you are lucky enough to be involved in the Chautauqua Advancement Project you should consider yourself lucky, and my advice would be to make the most out of it. As with anything you get back what you put in.
-Matthew Hanson, Events Manager with the Jamestown Savings Bank Arena
Dr. Susan McNamara, Executive 23 East 3rd Street
Kerri Brown, E-Net Jamestown, NY 14701
Lori Jafarjian, Business Services (716) 661-9324
Fax (716) 483-2012