As the mariachi music reached a crescendo to welcome President Bill Clinton to the stage in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Alejandro Chacon had a choice to make.
Playing bass guitar, Chacon was worried that if he took his hands from the strings the group would lose tempo. This was the narrative playing through his mind as Mr. Clinton reached toward him with an outstretched hand.
“I didn’t shake it right away — I left him hanging for a little bit because I didn’t want to stop,” said Chacon. “But, looking at the scowls from the secret service agents and from my director, I ended up stopping for a little bit and shaking his hand.”
It’s a minor faux pas that Chacon, who leads the Howard R. Hughes College of Engineering’s new StepUp & StartUp internship program, would counsel his students to avoid.
“I tell my students to not just work on their career-specific skills, but to also work on soft skills: communication, teamwork, work ethic,” he said.
And, getting that handshake right during an interview for that coveted job or internship.
“Employers all around the world are saying the same thing: that the new workforce for some reason are lacking a lot of the soft skills, which used to be a given for anybody,” Chacon said.
As internship coordinator for StepUp & StartUp — a first-of-its-kind UNLV program that connects future engineers and computer scientists with local startup companies for internships paid for by the university — Chacon advises countless students on available opportunities in the local tech landscape and helps them develop a vision for their careers, and a pathway to achieve their goals.
“My job is not to tell students what they should do, but to help them find what they want to do,” he said.
Outside of work, and his dedication to career counseling, he can apparently be found playing mariachi music for presidents. Not once, but twice.
Tell us about your new position and the new StepUp & StartUp program at UNLV Engineering. Why is it so special?
Earlier this year, I moved from my position as assistant director of employer relations for UNLV Career Services, where I was for about six years, in order to build StepUp & StartUp from the ground up. StepUp & StartUp is a new program that the College of Engineering started because of a grant that was given to us by the Governor’s Office of Economic Development.
The program supports two groups. One being our students: juniors, seniors, master’s, and some sophomore students in the majors of electrical engineering, computer engineering, and computer science. The second group is the startup tech industry of Nevada. And that’s kind of what drew me to this program — it helps both UNLV and Nevada.
It’s also one of the first internships of its kind here at the university. The reason why it’s different is that the university reimburses the company. So, the company will pay interns a very competitive starting salary of $18 an hour, and then we reimburse the employer. It’s free for the employer, and also provides opportunities for our students. It’s a win-win on both sides.
What are your day-to-day responsibilities?
A lot of my day is spent working on resumes with students, working on mock interviews. If they’re doing career exploration within these majors, I help them kind of narrow it down. We look at different jobs, job titles and what might be interesting, and then we kind of go down a rabbit hole and see what might interest them.
And on the flip side, I work with employers. It may be that I’m going to do a site visit; I won’t send a student to a site unless I visit the site first. I also work with employers to develop their internships and their internship descriptions. We have 10 active companies in the program right now with 23 active student interns.
At my core, I’m a career coach. That hasn’t changed. But now, I’m getting the chance to work with more students, and expanding my reach to engineering companies.
Tell us about the object you chose for your photoshoot.
I have a pretty sizable collection of Funko Pops. The one in my office is a smaller collection, and I have a bigger collection at my house. We tried to stop collecting after they filled up a wall in our house. Although, there are some that we’ll see, and we’ll be like “Omg, we have to have it.”
The two Funko Pops I highlighted are ones that were given to me by students, so they hold a special place in my heart. I didn’t ask for them, of course. They just brought them to me as a thank you.
The first one I received was The Thing from the Fantastic Four, and this one is unique because it’s a zombie version of The Thing. The second one is Gilgamesh from the Eternals.
How did this collection start? Do you have a favorite Funko Pop?
I got one Funko Pop as a gift, and then we just started developing the collection from there. Sometimes I’ll get some for my wife, and my son has his own collection, as well.
I collect what I like. But when it comes to a favorite Funko Pop — or, favorites for anything — I don’t have any. I don’t want to select a favorite because I love ‘em all.
The most that I have of any particular character is either Groot from Marvel or the clown from the movie It. It doesn’t mean that they’re my favorites; it just means that I have more of them.
I know you said you don’t like favorites, but if you want free food to any local restaurant of your choosing, which one would it be?
I don’t have a favorite restaurant, but I like Asian food: whether it be Indian, Japanese, Korean, Chinese — I love it all. I love the flavors. I like both the complexity and the simplicity of the dishes. For example, pho. It’s a simple dish in a way: noodles, broth, and meat. But they add in herbs and different sauces so each bite can be very different from your last.
If someone offered you a free plane ticket to anywhere in the world, but you have to leave tomorrow — where would you go?
It would be Japan. The reason is because of a picture I saw of snow monkeys bathing in hot springs in National Geographic when I was a little kid, and I thought, "wow." No. 1, to see those monkeys just chillin' like that, and two, to be next to those monkeys just chillin' like that. With the snow coming down, and the heat from the hot spring, it seemed like a relaxing, mystical, place to be. And I love Japanese food; I love the culture. And I would like to see it. That would be one of my first spots.
The holiday season is upon us! Do you have any unique family holiday traditions?
Our Christmas tree is very special. We only put ornaments on our tree that have a special meaning to us. So, if we go on a trip, we’ll get an ornament for that trip. We have a lot of special ornaments from my mother-in-law who is now passed, and my father-in-law who is now passed, and several ornaments that we’ve grown up with all our lives.
What was the last book you couldn't put down?
I love reading fantasy novels. I typically don’t read Stephen King, but he wrote a fantasy book called Fairy Tale. So I decided to give it a try. I read that, and that was one I wasn’t able to put down right away.
I also really enjoyed The Wheel of Time series. The books were amazing. And even though I read the series before the show came out, I’m one of those people who will give the TV adaptations a chance. The show doesn’t necessarily follow the book religiously, but I do enjoy it. It’s been really neat to see it come to life.
You interact with students constantly and provide counsel on career pathways. What is the No. 1 piece of advice you like to share in conversations with students?
This is advice that I’ve actually started giving now that I’ve moved here to UNLV Engineering. And I’ve been giving this advice because now I’m a little more embedded in a unit, and can see things a little better.
The advice is: Don’t wait for the education to come to you. We have a great curriculum. It certainly provides a strong foundation for our students. But when they get out into the real world, they are going to be missing things — no program can cover everything. And so what I’m telling them is: Let’s get an idea for what you want to do and then start chasing that education.
Don’t wait for UNLV to teach you Python, go out and chase that knowledge. UNLV has LinkedIn Learning: Take those classes for free. If you’re interested in cybersecurity, then get with the UNLV Free Cyber Clinic and start learning. Obtain certificates that are going to help you. Don’t wait for it.
Conversely, tell us about a lesson you've learned from a student?
For some of our students, their situations can be beyond difficult. Yet they still come to class. And they still get good grades. They make it happen and do not give up.
What's something about you that would surprise people to know?
I used to be a musician. I was in two different mariachi groups, one in high school and one in college, and we recorded two CDs. I also played for one of the presidents — President Bill Clinton — twice.
The first time was in New Mexico. There was a politician, Gov. Bruce King, who really liked our group, so he invited us to play for President Clinton’s visit. Later on, in college, for his second time in office, I was in a group that played at one of President Clinton’s inaugural balls and in the inaugural parade in Washington, D.C.
You obviously enjoy music. What’s on your playlist now?
My playlist is as eclectic as anybody else's. But some days I think it might be just a tad more diverse than most. I listen to everything. And when I mean everything, you’ll find things from every type of music, from every culture. There’s classical, there’s music from African tribes, Jewish prayers, and reggaeton.
Music is my life. I love SoundHound. Sometimes I’ll be in a store and I hear something, and I have got to know what it is. If I hear something I like from a movie, I have to listen to it. And sometimes I’ll just go on Apple or Spotify, and I’ll just start picking things and seeing if I like it. And if I like it, I’ll keep it. And if not, I’ll move on.
