Last spring, Jake Glover (BUS ’17) was a senior marketing major quickly approaching graduation when he went to see MaryAnn Gibney, who was the manager of student and alumni engagement at the Center for Sales Leadership at DePaul.
Glover was interested in working for Jellyvision, an interactive employee communication software company, and sought Gibney’s help in finding a connection at the Chicago-based company. Serendipitously, Gibney had just returned from lunch with Kim Kozeny (BUS ’09), who expressed an interest in becoming a mentor and was working at that time as a Jellyvision account executive.
“Really good mentors genuinely want to help mentees,” says Glover. “(They) take them under their wing and rise up with them.”
That is what Kozeny did for Glover. During casual conversations that spanned a range of topics, Glover asked Kozeny what it is like to work at Jellyvision, how to get a job there and what he could do to stand out as a job candidate. Kozeny knew how much Glover wanted to join Jellyvision, so she introduced him to her sales leadership team. Glover made a great first impression and was invited to return the following week for an interview.
“As a mentor, it’s important to understand what your mentee wants out of your relationship,” says Kozeny.
It is my job to help them find out what they are passionate about and to help fulfill that passion.”
Kozeny prepared Glover for the Jellyvision job interview, giving him feedback on his sales pitch, suggesting resources to read about the company and going over the interview process.
“I’ve been very lucky with the people who have mentored me in the past,” says Kozeny. “They gave me confidence to follow my own career aspirations. To do that for someone else is extremely fulfilling.”
Glover landed a job at Jellyvision as a business development representative and has been working there for more than a year. He now hopes to move up into an account executive role and continues meeting with Kozeny for career advice.
One of Glover’s former classmates has recently expressed interest in working for Jellyvision, so he has reached out to her in what he calls a “mini-mentor” role. Glover says it is his chance to pay it forward.
Learn more about business mentorship programs.
By Andrew Zamorski | Photo by Kathy Hillegonds
