Kristine Ono
Multiple majors, internship opportunities and extracurricular experiences, this Heider junior is living her Creighton years with gusto.
Rejection is a good thing. Or at least a little bit is for Heider business student Kristine Ono. The junior accounting, business intelligence and analytics and fintech triple major equates rejection with putting yourself in front of people, opening yourself up to possibility.
Rejection is good? “No” is positive? This flies in the face of what many of us believe to be true. But for Ono, the answer to these questions is an absolute “yes” because it signifies that you have faith in yourself, and you are giving someone else the chance to see your value.
“Often, we reject ourselves before giving someone else the chance to reject us. Many opportunities are missed this way,” Ono says. “Give someone else the privilege of denying you, and if they do, then you are one rejection closer to securing a role.”
This notion of allowing others the opportunity to say “no” to you rather than beating them to the punch was the one piece of advice an upperclassman gave Ono that has stuck with her since freshman year. It is wisdom she now passes on to new Creighton students.
“When I was a freshman, I didn’t have the confidence to apply for internships due to my lack of experience in the business arena. Like myself, many other students have feelings of hesitation, whether it be applying for jobs or internships, but this shouldn’t stop them from pursuing their goals,” Ono says.
Fortunately, she heeded the upperclassman’s advice and despite having a rather skeletal CV, she reached out to people within her limited network and applied for internships she considered well outside her reach. In other words, she refused to pump the brakes on opportunity.
“Luckily, someone else saw value in me that I didn’t see in myself,” Ono recalls of what would be the first of multiple internships to come.
Ono has worked as a financial advisor intern for Mission Financial Group LLC in her hometown of Honolulu, a building support team member at Creighton and a treasury/risk management intern at ConAgra Brands.
With all the stress placed on internships, it is very easy to become overwhelmed by their career-launching importance. Not surprisingly, Ono has a different perspective. She believes internships to be low-stakes – not high-stakes – explorations of future career paths. First, they are temporary, often only lasting a few months. Second, they will either solidify a desire to work in a certain field or reveal areas that do not align with your skills or interests. Viewed from this perspective, internships are compensated do-overs, opportunities to make informed decisions regarding careers.
What other internship advice does she have? Take advantage of career fairs and networking events Creighton sponsors and grow your network of contacts. Get familiar with Handshake, Creighton’s online career management system; refine and update your LinkedIn profile and craft a solid cover letter and resume.
When you do get an interview, research the company (this “demonstrates your sincerity of applying,” Ono says), familiarize yourself with its mission and values and be prepared to discuss how you can further both. And while this may seem like a no-brainer, be early for your appointment, wear appropriate attire and, as mom always says, mind your manners.
To say that Ono is living the Creighton experience with gusto is an understatement. In addition to triple majoring and working internships, she is extremely active on campus, especially in leadership roles. She has been an active member of service fraternity Alpha Phi Omega, earning the Oak Service Award, and held numerous chair positions with professional business fraternity Alpha Kappa Psi. Creighton Investment Banking Society and BIA Association count among her extra-curricular activities, and she has been listed on the Dean’s Honor Roll as well as the Dean’s Honor Roll for Social Responsibility multiple times.
But perhaps her favorite organization is Hui’O Hawai’i, Creighton’s Hawaii student organization. She has served as public relations/ticket sales co-chair for the organization’s annual luau, which is always a highlight of the year for Ono. Creighton boasts a large population of students from the Aloha State, and this is one of the factors that drew Ono to the University. It provided a chance to strike out on her own and strengthen her sense of independence within a supportive, familiar community.
Says Ono: “Creighton has been my home away from home.”