Former Oracle Senior Vice President Shari Simon visited the Future Business Leaders of American and Distributed Educational Clubs of America on May 20.
“She talked about what she believes is the most important for students as us in high school to focus on right now, in order for us to get a leg up on getting a job and getting more positions when we graduate,” FBLA club president Brian Lederman said. “She also talked about her own path that she took to rise to the position that she got in Oracle: the senior vice president.”
Lederman contacted Simon via email to arrange the visit. Simon gave presentations to the FBLA Club and the Gavel Club last year and was happy to come back. Simon said, “I love work and so immensely enjoyed my career that I want to inspire others to have the same degree of choice and success.”
Simon said she “updated this year’s presentation based on questions from last year.”
“We’re a business club, and she held a pretty high, important position in the business world, and I thought she would be a really interesting person to speak to,” Lederman said. “Especially since she’s a local person, and she was nearby. I thought it would be a great experience for the people in the club to come by and visit her.”
Both Lederman and DECA co-club president Jacob Ngai enjoyed the presentation.
“I found it very helpful. I think she did a very great job on telling us exactly what she looked for when she was a person hiring people for Oracle, and she gave us a lot of really great information to find extra opportunities to prove who you are and why you’d be important for a company to hire you,” Lederman said.
“I thought it was very informative, and also it really allowed me to think about the future and what to do because her presentation kind of gave you the real world view of what will happen in the future and in your career,” Ngai said.
Simon would like to make her presentation “more interactive” in the future. She said, “Brian’s recommendation for next year is for me to come after school so the members of the Business Club will be more relaxed and we will have more time to cover key points as well as address individual questions.”
