Alumni Directory

Tom Kowalsky

Sales Manager
Labcorp

School Information

School: University of Maryland

College Major: Business

 Years at College Works: 2016-2018

Career Information

Working For: Labcorp

Title: Sales Manager

Industry: Healthcare

Brief Description of Duties / Responsibilities:

Selling clinical trial testing solutions to pharma and agile biotech companies for their oncology clinical trials, drawing up proposals, clearing capabilities with the lab, confirming details with pharma and internal science liaisons. Prospecting using various tools for generating additional business conversations.

What Has Been Your Proudest Accomplishment Post-CWP?

Continually being one of the youngest people in the room of my work peers, and showing off an engrained ability to “figure it out” rather than complain and demand help.

College Works Career Impact

In one sentence, what has CW meant to you?

It has given me a confidence to be uncomfortable knowing I have experience thriving in that environment

How did your CW experience impact your career? Immediately after graduation? Now?

I was immediately set apart when applying for jobs vs classmates, as well as having strong personal experience in the real world on top of connections with business people who have well entrenched careers. 6 years later, I feel very much ahead of where I would have been had I not had College Works Painting experience on my resume and connections.

What do you want to tell your clients about what it meant to work with them and how it has helped you get to where you are today?

My favorite client landed me a job in biotech, which launched me to where I am today. I randomly knocked on a door and it led me here, so don’t be afraid to hit that last house. You never know what could come from it.

What was the greatest lesson you learned from your CW experience?

You have to start somewhere, and you don’t have to start well- just start and improve best you can, as long as you don’t give up, you will get somewhere to be proud of.

How have the friendships and networks you built during CW affected you?

I’ve made lifelong friends through College Works Painting, and a rising tide raises all boats.

If you had to come up with a one line slogan for CW, what would it be?

With this experience, where will you go?

Advice

What advice do you have for potential CW participants? Current CW participants?

While there will be challenges, that’s where you grow. If you want to be set apart from other job applications at any point in your life, it’ll take struggle and determination. College Works Painting gives you a chance to earn that much earlier than most college students.

Many college students struggle to choose between an internship specific to their target industry or doing CW. What advice would you give them on this subject if they wanted to enter your career field?

Career specific internships help, but everyone has those. Most people don’t end up doing what their internships are, and they don’t end up in the role they thought they’d be when taking the internship. College Works Painting experience lends itself to anything, so no matter where you end up, you’ll have a great differentiator under your belt.

What’s your best advice for someone interested in entering your career field?

Get started somewhere to gain experience and let that determine where you want to go. There is so much variance in day to day activities between roles, don’t shut down an opportunity because it may not be exactly what you want. Start somewhere and let that guide your next move.