By Jennifer Leopoldt

A culture of giving back is built into DePaul University’s mission. In one undergraduate marketing class at the Driehaus College of Business, that idea is also part of the curriculum.

Students in MKT 377: Fundamentals of Sales & Networking learn and practice sales concepts by “selling” for the Sid Feldman Legacy Fund, which creates scholarships for Chicago Public Schools students to attend DePaul. The fund is named after Chicago businessman Sid Feldman, who believed in the power and necessity of education.

“Through this project students not only learn to sell and to provide financial means for someone to attend DePaul, but they come to the realization that they could truly make a difference in a person’s life,” says Adjunct Professor Clancy Ryan (BUS ’96, MBA ’02), who created and teaches the class each quarter and is the director of student relations for DePaul’s Center for Sales Leadership.

Early on, students in MKT 377 would pitch for DePaul’s sales programs or for community partners, such as StreetWise. The class switched to promoting the scholarship fund in winter 2010 and now has a yearly goal of raising $75,000 and funding two partial scholarships. For Fiscal Year 2013-14, ending with the 2014 spring quarter class, MKT 377 students raised $109,979.62.

Students Helping Students

The class introduces sales concepts and challenges students to polish their skills through individual and group work. Each quarter, students break into teams of four and are mentored by a sales team manager, a former student who completed the same class. Bringing alumni into the classroom allows students to learn from someone who has been in the same situation.

“It’s this idea of students mentoring students who are helping students,” explains Sarah Laggos (CSH ’05, LAS MA ’07), who began co-directing the fund while she worked at the Center for Sales Leadership. Now Laggos remains hands-on with managing the fund while being based in California as Alumni, Annual Fund & Corporate Relations Director at Santa Rosa Junior College.

Zaharoula Asimos (BUS ’12) was a sales team manager for four quarters after graduating. She has helped to coach the sales team leaders and serves on the effort’s advisory board. She says she appreciated how Ryan led class by example: “He showed us that you can have a corporate job and do something you love on the side, for the pure passion in your heart.”

Sales team manager Semir Delic (BUS ’11) returned because he believed in the fund and the skills the class taught him. “Everything that I learned in class I was able to apply in the real world while helping other students attend DePaul,” he says.

The advent of sales team managers shows how the course is constantly changing. One year when Ryan taught an MBA-level course on leading business development, he asked the graduate students how they would lead a team of undergraduates to success in a fundraising project. That feedback was implemented into MKT 377. In addition, each quarter the sales team managers are asked to discuss what does and doesn’t work so the course can continue to adapt.

Raising Money, Learning Lessons

Just like a sales force for a company, each student in class is given a sales quota. For FY13-14, the goals were higher: Each student had to bring in $300, with $150 raised individually and $150 raised with their teams. Within four years, the per-student fundraising average has more than doubled, from $220 in 2010 to $537 last year.

Students can raise money however they see fit, usually in a combination of pitching to friends and family and running team events. Those events can be anything from special sales days at local restaurants, such as the Chipotle nearest DePaul’s Loop Campus, to bake sales or other ideas. The challenge comes in picking something that can be implemented in just 10 weeks.

Students see the difference they’re making when past scholarship recipients—now DePaul students themselves—come to class and talk about what receiving the Sid Feldman scholarship meant to them.

“That is the thing that flips the light bulb on: These are real students at DePaul, and without this scholarship they would not be able to be here,” Laggos says. Videos of scholarship recipients also are available on the fund’s website.

Koemi Valencia (BUS ’14) says being a sales team manager is a learning experience, one where she can learn from the students while also helping them succeed. “Having that dual-learning relationship while keeping this amazing cause alive—helping CPS students go to college—is almost an invaluable experience.”

Even as the professor, Ryan says he gains new insight from each class. “I tell the students that they’ll teach me more in 10 weeks than I’ll ever be able to teach them.”

In the decade since LinkedIn began as a career website, online networking has taken on new importance. “In the beginning, it was more a question of, ‘Should I make a profile?’ Now it’s a given that you need to be on LinkedIn to have a professional presence,” says Christa Hinton (MBA ’98, EdD ’12), assistant dean for the Driehaus College of Business and director of the Kellstadt Career Management Center.

Even though online networking has become an accepted part of professional culture, business students and alumni often still wonder how to best manage a profile. Hinton and Colleen Fashing Reaney, associate director of alumni relations, detail four ways to make the most of LinkedIn.

1. Provide the right information.
A LinkedIn profile looks a bit like a resume, but its flexible design lets you add more detail. Instead of just listing your job description, tailor your profile with specific, measurable accomplishments and a headline that accurately describes what you do.

Unlike regular resumes, LinkedIn also has space for a picture. Some people may be uncomfortable posting a photo online, either for privacy reasons or because it’s not a cultural norm in the United States. However, both Hinton and Reaney encourage using a photo. “If you don’t have a headshot, your profile isn’t considered 100 percent complete and you can’t progress with some of the resources on LinkedIn,” Reaney says.

If you want to apply for job postings through LinkedIn, pay attention to the recommendations section. Without three to five recommendations—short endorsements you ask others to write—you might not be considered for certain opportunities. Whereas references for a job often are past supervisors, LinkedIn recommendations can come from co-workers at any level. “I encourage people to do a 360 recommendation: somebody above you, somebody below you and somebody at your level,” Reaney says.

Also, make sure to list your education on your profile. LinkedIn’s search function lets you find other people who went to DePaul, which can be helpful for connecting with old classmates or job searching.

2. Create a dynamic profile.
Keeping your LinkedIn profile up to date is vital. “It’s a living thing that needs to be nurtured,” Hinton says, comparing it to keeping a current resume. “You wouldn’t let your resume sit for 10 years and then go apply for a new job with that same resume.”

LinkedIn is also easier to update than a resume. LinkedIn allows you to edit sections as much as you want; if you try something that you don’t like, you can easily delete it and start over.

3. Decide how you want to connect.
LinkedIn allows users to link with people they actually know and to reach out to potential connections they have never met. Deciding which approach you want to take is personal, and there are two schools of thought.

“If I cannot recognize your name or your face by looking at your profile, I will not connect with you,” Reaney says. Her philosophy is that having multiple “touches” with a person—meeting at a networking event, emailing or having coffee—before asking to connect on LinkedIn can lead to a stronger relationship.

In Hinton’s opinion, “It never hurts to ask.” She is open to connecting with people she doesn’t personally know as long as they explain why they want to link with her. LinkedIn allows users to personalize every request beyond the basic “I’d like to add you to my professional network” wording. For example, Hinton encourages Business Exchange readers who want to learn more about LinkedIn to send her a connection request mentioning this article.

4. Be an active participant.
LinkedIn is about more than just creating a profile. To get the most use out of the site, look in the “Interests” section for companies to follow and groups to join. “When you’re part of a group, it is important to post occasionally, because that helps people know who you are and that you’re part of a larger dialogue,” Hinton says.

Amid updating your professional profile and connecting online, don’t forget that personal relationships still matter when networking. “Remember to get out of your house and actually shake some hands and meet people face to face,” Reaney suggests.

Learn More

Connect with alumni from all of DePaul’s colleges and schools through the DePaul University Alumni Association group on LinkedIn, which has more than 19,500 members.

Set up an appointment with the Kellstadt Career Management Center by calling (312) 362-8272 or emailing mba@depaul.edu.

Get career advice from the Office of Alumni Relations by calling (800) 437-1898 or emailing dpalumni@depaul.edu.

By Jennifer Leopoldt

With big data comes big responsibility, but many users of personal information have done an inadequate job of ensuring consumer protection and privacy, leaving millions susceptible to data theft and other cybercrimes. The ever-increasing size of our digital footprint has created a growing number of traceable data points that can be exploited for everything from increasing sales to ferreting out potential terrorists to stealing one’s identity.

McKinsey & Company researchers called big data “the next frontier in innovation.” It found that large data sets create value by making information more usable, improving performance, enabling better product targeting, refining decision-making and improving service to customers.

That’s the case from a business point of view, but what about the consumer’s perspective? Is what some might consider an invasion of privacy an effective way to improve customer service?

Laura Pincus Hartman, a Vincent de Paul Professor of Business Ethics in the Driehaus College of Business, says that boundaries should exist between data holders and data owners, and that these boundaries can be negotiated through notifications and permissions.

“Figuring out which side of the bed you sleep on seems to be one of the hottest data points in the hotel business. That’s where the staff will place a water bottle and other amenities, which means a lot when you roll out of bed in the morning,” wrote consumer advocate Christopher Elliott in USA Today. Elliott says that staff collects such intelligence through spoken, written and online comments about preferences for storage in a database designed to customize customer experiences and increase brand loyalty.

But what additional information might a hotel learn or surmise about a guest by collecting such intimate information? Hartman suggests the question can be neutralized easily if the hotel simply were to tell its affinity cardholders “we’d like to delight you with the invisibility of our service,” and allow the cardholder to authorize the level of hospitality that meets their needs, or perhaps, most protects their privacy.

Facebook, the ubiquitous social media site, matches user demographics with advertisers’ products to deliver targeted ads that annoy some users. “Facebook is free because advertisers pay for it,” she says. By using Facebook, people gain access to a convenient method of communication and advertisers gain the opportunity to generate attention for their products.

“Facebook is a private company,” Hartman notes. “It is not a public service. If you don’t like what they do with your data, you don’t have to use it.”

Other countries have much stronger privacy protections than the United States. “Europe’s data protection directive does not allow data to be transferred to non-European Union countries unless there is an adequate level of protection in that country, or if the recipient can guarantee that they will uphold the same level of protection as the directive,” Hartman reports.

Despite the relative strength of its pro-consumer policies, the European Union is exploring even stronger information safeguards. “This proposed regulation includes a ‘right to be forgotten,’ which will help people better manage data protection risks online: people will be able to delete their data if there are no legitimate grounds for retaining it,” she says.

With the next big data breach inevitably right around the corner, Americans may wish they had the right to be forgotten.

By Denise Mattson