Name: Victoria Rodríguez
Age: 24
High School: Juan XXIII High School
Degree Program: Bachelor of Arts in Economics
Year of graduation: 2006
Employment: Research Assistant at the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB)
Interview published in June 2006.
"It all started because I wanted to study abroad but didn't manage to apply in time for this year, and it all ended with an internship at the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB)." This is both the beginning and the end of the journey that led Victoria Rodríguez to join the IDB's Research Department.
Victoria wanted to continue her studies abroad, "to experience living in another country," but in February of this year, when she started searching online, she realized that applications were already closed. So she visited the websites of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the IDB in search of an internship.
She had to go through two interviews. The first, in April, was a video conference she conducted from the IDB offices in Montevideo; she had another interview in early May, and by the second week of the month, she had been confirmed in the position. Victoria will spend a year in Washington, though there is an option for her to stay for two.
The international organization took Victoria’s previous work into account. In 2004, she was joined by the Academic Coordinator of Economics, Dr. Néstor Gandelman. Together, they authored a paper on discrimination against women regarding access to housing. It so happened that the IDB’s Research Department was conducting a study, similar to Victoria and Gandelman’s, on discrimination in various areas: access to education, housing, and health, among others.
Until this year, he worked at Watson Wyatt, a British consulting firm with its research center in Zonamérica. “I would receive the results of the surveys they conduct in Europe, draw conclusions, prepare the report, and send it to headquarters,” he said. He also worked on a research project with Javier de Haedo, a former director of the Office of Planning and Budget (OPP).
He emphasized that "in every course in the program, there are required assignments that are like mini research projects, so in each one you learn how to find information and write a well-organized report; these are practical skills that, as an ORT student, you come to take for granted, and later you realize in the real world that they’re incredibly helpful when it comes to landing a job."
Victoria recalled, "We were a wonderful class; we all got along really well, and whenever there's a birthday, we all go. Plus, there's a group of seven classmates who became close friends."