By Dana Fitzmorris
Kellstadt’s Fall 2019 Career Conference on Nov. 2 did not disappoint. This event is hosted twice a year by the Career Management team at Kellstadt to provide an opportunity for students to network with business leaders in the Chicago community and gain career insights through workshops and panel discussions.
The conference kicked off with keynote speaker (and DePaul alumnus) Martin McGovern who talked about the realities of job searching. Martin is a coach at Career Therapy who helps clients with the emotional and promotional aspects of professional development. In his talk, Martin provided three helpful tips for graduate students when looking for jobs:
1. Focus on meeting people
The most valuable use of your time when job searching is connecting with individuals already working in your desired industry. Not only does this broaden your network, but also helps you understand job responsibilities with different companies. Most people are happy to share their experiences and help you learn.
2. Leverage your existing network
When applying for jobs, submitting your resume online should not be your only step. It is crucial to utilize your network and meet professionals face-to-face because personal relationships are typically what help you secure a job. Only 20% of people land a job from just an opening found online.
3. Maximize your use of LinkedIn
Many students create LinkedIn profiles once and never login again. This is a mistake. LinkedIn has extensive search capabilities to help find mutual connections with those working for a certain company or industry. By using the People Search feature on LinkedIn and expanding all filter options, you can generate search results based on granular criteria like past employers, geographic location and specialty services.
The second part of the conference involved three Q&A panel breakout sessions, where students could choose whichever session they found most applicable. The first session focused on using your graduate degree to advance your current career, the second talked about changing your career and the third was centered on careers in consulting. The panelists were honest and open with their responses to our questions, helping paint a clear picture about their industry and career expectations.
My favorite part of the Career Conference was receiving advice from the panelists about what grad students can be doing right now to prepare for the job market. Gaining applicable experience through internships, practicing interview skills with sample case problems and behavioral questions, and using DePaul alumni as resources were all tips they offered.
Kellstadt’s Career Conference helped me think about my career goals and develop a plan to reach them. One of my biggest takeaways was the importance of your network when job searching. The event supported this notion, as we were able to connect with Chicago employers and DePaul alumni at the breakout sessions. The Career Conference encouraged me to continue growing my professional network, and I am already looking forward to next year’s event.
Dana Fitzmorris graduated from Texas Christian University with a bachelor’s degree in finance and management. She is currently pursuing an MBA at DePaul, with a focus on entrepreneurship. She is co-founder of Kellstadt’s Women in Business student organization.
Joseph Babajan
Joseph Babajan served in the U.S. Marine Corps as a pilot for 10 years before joining DePaul’s MBA program at the Kellstadt Graduate School of Business. His travels as an aviator took him to Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, East Timor, Thailand, Japan, Chile and various other places around the globe. Today, pursuing the MBA’s international business concentration, Babajan is working toward an international career in the defense and aerospace industry.
Why did you decide to study business?
I had achieved my life-long dream of serving as an aviator in the U.S. Marine Corps. I got to work as a liaison officer and flight planner in many international locations and that inspired me to want to conduct business in the international arena. I felt that I could couple my unique leadership experiences and technical knowledge with business and achieve great things. I was drawn to business due to the teamwork and leadership nature it entails. Solving fast-paced and very complex problems was a daily feature of my career in the Marine Corps, so I was easily attracted to the problem-solving aspects of business.
How is the college experience different for veterans?
College is definitely experienced differently by veterans. Through their time in the military, veterans collect a highly unique set of experiences. Serving in the military propels a person into a realm of great responsibility with global scope. These experiences have a profound impact on veterans and provide them a rich set of skills and ideas that they bring to their educational programs after serving.
What advice do you give veterans on how their training could apply to studying and pursuing careers in business?
Serving in the military trains individuals to serve as part of a greater team and to lead that team. Veterans, whether they realize it, have already accomplished great feats of leadership when compared to their peers. Veterans also had great responsibility and accountability while serving. Whether it was being in charge of a $90 million aircraft with 30 lives on board or leading a platoon, we veterans were entrusted with a level of responsibility few ever experience. This training and discipline can and must be channeled into the realm of academia and business. Veterans are so highly sought after by businesses because of their incomparable experiences.
How was your experience transitioning to DePaul as a veteran student?
DePaul has been a wonderful experience and an exciting transition for me as I have shifted out of active duty. The veteran community at DePaul welcomed me from day one, and even before that, as I was already talking to veterans here a year before I started the program. They helped me get my benefits and paperwork in order and answered questions I had about life and academics at DePaul. This diverse group of people has served as a useful resource to me and really helped to ease my transition back to school.
Learn more about DePaul’s MBA in international business.
Recently, we had an incredible opportunity to learn and build our professional networks in a setting beyond what’s possible in the classroom. On a brisk October morning, we bundled up and made our way across Detroit’s riverfront to attend the 2019 Net Impact Conference, representing the DePaul Net Impact chapter as proud chapter leaders.
Net Impact, a nonprofit based in Oakland, Calif., has more than 400 professional and university chapters around the globe. The organization’s mission aims to equip, inspire and build the professional networks of the next generation of change-makers and social impact leaders. A Net Impact chapter has been operating at DePaul for several years, and in 2019, we hoped to make the presence of the DePaul Net Impact chapter felt in Detroit. This year’s conference theme was dubbed, “Widening the Lens” – in other words, how can students and industry professionals expand their ideas about sustainability and social impact.
On Friday, we were lucky enough to present at the first-ever Net Impact poster presentation session, where we had the opportunity to raise awareness around the issues of food loss and global climate change – issues that drove us both to pursue degrees in the field of sustainable management at DePaul. It was an informal setting where we could see how our tech-based idea for reducing food loss in supply chains would be received by others, mostly students and working professionals also attending the conference. We received plenty of encouragement from other conference attendees during that afternoon session. We both came out thinking, “This public speaking thing isn’t too bad, right?”
On Saturday, we attended a career-building session sponsored by LinkedIn. We served as mentors to scholarship students attending universities in Detroit. Our goal was to assist these students as they advance their professional networks and build their LinkedIn profiles for future job hunting. It was an amazing chance to learn about the life experiences and journeys of others, and we left the session having learned a lot more than we gave.
All the final presentations and papers we have endured as students, and the concepts we have learned in the classroom, put us in the position to not just enter the conference as participants but seize the opportunity to be change-makers and storytellers. We both felt clarity and direction in our careers; a situation you dream of when you first decide to take the initial step in pursuing an advanced degree. Based on the feedback we had from visitors at the poster presentation, it seems like we are on track for graduation next year with the skills required in today’s competitive landscape: attention to detail, creativity, and critical thinking, which were some of the comments we heard.
Martin Holzmann (left) and Ryan Henderson at the Net Impact conference in Detroit.
For students interested in a similar experience, Net Impact hosts ongoing challenges, where you can submit a proposal and test your entrepreneurial spirit in a professional environment. Earlier this year, we submitted a proposal to the Net Impact 2019 Food Solutions Challenge. As finalists, we received an all-expenses-paid trip to New York City in June and had the opportunity to pitch our idea to a panel of investors and sustainability experts. We placed second overall, and it was one of the reasons Net Impact invited us to present at this October conference.
A strong finish to our last year at DePaul has never been more motivating. We are excited to get back in the classroom and leverage what we have learned about building networks that inspire change in the world. We challenge students at DePaul to get involved around campus – whether it’s a study abroad program or a student organization. There are plenty of opportunities to take your classroom concepts out into the world. Don’t wait until you graduate.
We would like to thank DePaul University for making these opportunities possible for us.
Learn more and join DePaul Net Impact by visiting the website or emailing depaulnetimpact@gmail.com.
Ryan Henderson and Martin Holzmann are graduate students in the MS in Sustainable Management Program at the Kellstadt Graduate School of Business. They currently lead DePaul Net Impact as the chapter leaders.
By Jaclyn Lansbery | Photo by Kathy Hillegonds
Managers make decisions every day – decisions that influence the organization, the people they manage and overall business outcomes. So how can managers become better decision-makers?
For the past 10 years, the Kellstadt Graduate School of Business has offered the MBA in Business Strategy and Decision Making. One of 14 MBA concentrations offered by Kellstadt, the Business Strategy and Decision Making program teaches students how to diagnose strategic positions, evaluate alternative courses of action, and make the best possible decisions. The program is a fast-track career development option for managers who want the skills and abilities to make strategic economic decisions in a business environment.
Professor of Economics Rafael Tenorio, who oversees the program, says it gives students skills they can use in several different industries. Below, he shares three reasons an MBA in Business Strategy and Decision Making may be right for you.
Transferable Skills
More than 1,200 alumni have taken the business strategy classes, and collectively they work in all kinds of sectors– from finance and manufacturing to nonprofit and management consulting. One of the most popular classes, “ECO 525 – Strategic Decision Making and Game Theory,” teaches students how to use game theory insights to problems in business, economics, and other disciplines.
“Game theory can be applied to just about any industry or policy scenario,” Tenorio says. “It’s about making decisions in situations in which your outcomes depend on what other people do. Think about problems like optimal pricing, how to bid in auctions, how to negotiate a new contract, or how to position your product or service in the presence of competition.”
Classroom Experience
MBA alumna Admira Ibisevic
The MBA concentration consists of two required core classes and one elective that best matches your personal and professionals goals. Since the frameworks and applications discussed in the strategy classes are also of interest to applied economists, MBA students in this concentration often take classes with students enrolled in DePaul’s MS in Economics and Policy Analysis program.
“One of the things that really enriches the experience in the strategy classes is the fact that we get students from both programs,” Tenorio says. “Since these classes blend theory with a more analytical way of thinking about real-world business decisions, the interactions we have in our classes are just phenomenal.”
MBA alumna Admira Ibisevic says the classroom environment is what drew her to the program. “It can be difficult to find settings that are both useful and fun, yet that was exactly the atmosphere in these classrooms,” says Ibisevic, who is a Managing Partner at Illumia Consulting Group, an organizational effectiveness firm focused on driving performance through people.
Alumni Network
With a growing and diverse alumni network, Tenorio considers it very important to nurture relationships with students after they graduate. He organizes quarterly alumni events and manages a LinkedIn group that connects alumni and current students. There is also a mentoring program, where experienced alumni provide guidance to those just starting their careers. “To me, my students and alumni are my lifelines,” he says.
Learn more about the MBA in Business Strategy and Decision Making
When I first began to consider pursuing a master’s degree in marketing, I knew I wanted to gain two things out of the experience: a great education and the opportunity to get to know and network with other students. I did not want my graduate school experience to involve just going to class, taking notes and going home. Instead, I wanted a school that offered opportunities to interact with other marketing students outside of the classroom.
The Marketing Leaders Community has enhanced my experience at the Kellstadt Graduate School of Business. It helped me find my place at DePaul. I’m not lost in a mass of students. I have a community of people I can turn to who make my education a holistic experience.
Since we all will be graduating within a few years of each other and will be heavily involved with the marketing world in and outside of Chicago, I could think of no better group of people to get to know than those of us pursuing marketing at a higher level. I felt that meeting each other could be a good opportunity to engage with people who I might work with in the future or who I might be able to talk to while looking for positions. I would also be interacting with people with whom I shared a common thread: a love for marketing.
Becoming a part of the Marketing Leaders Community has done just that. It has provided me with a community to interact with, people to go to when I need help with class or advice for work, and individuals who are familiar with the experiences I’m going through, because we’re going through those experiences together.
The Marketing Leaders Community hosts networking events, symposiums and other social events to bring together MS Marketing students, alumni, recruiters, and staff to get to know each other and create a community within the MS in Marketing program at the Kellstadt Graduate School of Business.
I chose to join the Marketing Leader’s Community because I wanted just that—a community. The Marketing Leaders Community has enhanced my experience at the Kellstadt Graduate School of Business. It helped me find my place at DePaul. I’m not lost in a mass of students. I have a community of people I can turn to who make my education a holistic experience.
It is also comforting to know that my connections to the Marketing Leader’s Community and its members do not have to stop when I graduate. I can continue to network and strengthen my bonds as I go further in life, which helps ensure that this experience is not limited to my two years at DePaul.
At DePaul, I already know I will get a great education; but with the Marketing Leaders Community, I am gaining a community that will last a lifetime.
Margaret Wolfe graduated from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with a bachelor’s degree in advertising. She is currently pursuing a master’s degree in marketing at DePaul, with a focus on digital marketing. She serves as vice president of membership for the Marketing Leaders Community.
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