If I’m a freshman at Kelley and want to go into investment banking, what are the steps provided to me by career services to make that happen?
First, during orientation in the summer, you would have already met your career coach. You would know their name, email, and immediately connect with that coach. And that coach would be prepared to tell you about the different clubs that you ought to think about, when the club meetings are going to be, and make some suggestions to them. We have an investment banking workshop [that] students start applying for their sophomore year. We would announce that to them through our online system—that those opportunities are available.
And if you didn’t happen to get into the workshop, you can continue to work with them to help get additional opportunities and training and do mock interviews. For those who get into workshops, all of that will be done through the workshop, including trips to Chicago and New York City that they would get. We have alumni contacts they can reach out to and can visit them as well.
What areas do you see trending in popularity now and what areas do you see becoming hot in the next few years?
I’ve got to say IT. Right now, private security is such a big issue for companies and I think it will continue to be a hot area. It’s one of those areas that I think students are starting to appreciate [that] there are more opportunities there. We had a hard time for a long time getting students to consider IT because there was that period where it seemed like all those jobs were being outsourced. But those ended up being predominantly the coding jobs—and that’s not what we create at Kelley. We create business analysts or the consultant and so there are going to be a lot of strong opportunities there.
As long as the economy remains good, I think we’ll see consulting—whether it’s marketing, brand management, HR—that’s going to continue to be strong. Investment banking has continued. We’ve seen the economy improve enough that there’s money in mergers and acquisitions occurring, so that’s strengthened. And the service industry continues to be strong and I can’t see that changing right away.
I can’t forecast what’s going to happen in the economy—I wish I could. So I can say this right now, but I can’t tell you what’s going to happen four years from now when you graduate. Things can possibly change. What’s important is you go after your passion. Figure out what your strengths are and what you really enjoy doing and go after that.
What can business undergrads do better to take advantage of their career services office?
We encourage them to come in and meet with us early if they have questions. I know there are some that won’t necessarily need us and I can remember being that way myself, thinking I don’t need them. But I think I could have improved and had better opportunities if I had come in and practiced. It’s just like any sport. The more you prepare and practice, the better you are. You’re developing skills in interviewing.
If I could do anything, I’d encourage them to start early building that network, building their skills, as opposed to waiting until later and just focusing that first year totally on academics. We really want them to focus their first years on exploring and figuring out what they want to do and start thinking about us in the second semester of freshman year, and then sophomore year to come in and take advantage of our resources and let us help them prepare.
What three pieces of advice do you have for business undergrads?
First, figure out who you are and explore your opportunities. Then start developing your network. Build your connectors. Finally, and along with building your network, build your skills in interviewing and networking and understanding that whole process. And let your career services help you with that. That’s what we’re here to do.
If you could make one change in the recruiting process for undergraduate business students, what would it be?
We’ve got some really talented undergraduate students and I’d encourage them not to settle. I’d encourage them to consider whoever comes after them first, but try to keep as many doors open until they’re sure of what they want to do. It’s unfortunate that the offers come at different times. I’d change the process to where every student could look at every opportunity at the same time before they had to make a decision.
But there are so many companies that are so competitive and they go after the students and don’t give them that opportunity. I appreciate those companies that allow them the time to make the best-informed decision for themselves. And I think in the long run, students and the employer will be more successful for it. Because if they aren’t happy, they’re not going to stay and will move on. That would be the main thing I would change. But there are certain industries that do not want to do it that way.
What outcomes would you use to indicate success?
We shouldn’t think of outcomes as always being a high-paying job. It could be going on to grad school or going on to provide a service like Peace Corps or Teach for America—all of those outcomes are very important. It’s not all about how much money they make.
Ultimately, we’re looking at those outcomes. We know it’s critical and they’re equally important in helping the students achieve what they want to do. We’re constantly measuring satisfaction of our services—whether it’s the students or the employers. And I view that information and look at it closely to make real-time changes in the services we provide. We’re looking at everything from net promoter scores with our employers to our students who meet with a coach, would they recommend them again. My background is finance and so I’ve got oodles of measures. I want to look at how effective we are as well, down to ‘are we returning phone calls quickly?’ I look at all of those things.
Any final thoughts?
I think there’s a lot of pressure on career services outcomes, right now. Because of the president’s scorecard, rankings of Bloomberg Businessweek, and student debt. I think it’s really important for the student and parent to understand what kind of assistance they’re going to get. And I think that’s one of the things Kelley has done for a long time. There has been a career services support from the very beginning—starting back in the 1930s. And so it’s built in and the faculty and career services and employers and students all work together and I think that’s something you don’t see at every school. I feel very blessed that we have that here. We’re not doing it because it’s hot right now; we’ve been doing it forever.
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