The Daily Campus – Leadership is an important skill in life and proves vital in numerous business scenarios, but what is it to United Technologies? Yesterday in the School of Business, the CFO of Pratt and Whitney, Bob Bailey, shed light on an answer to this question in a presentation on the “Keys for Effective Leadership.”
Career
Apply Now! KPMG’s Future Diversity Leaders (FDL) Program
KPMG LLP (KPMG) is seeking high-performing freshman and sophomore students who have demonstrated, and continue to demonstrate, a commitment to diversity and are interested in future opportunities at KPMG through participation in their exciting Future Diversity Leaders (FDL) program.
What is the Future Diversity Leaders program?
- The FDL program begins with a three-day leadership conference, held in Hollywood, CA, focused on preparing high-potential students with the skills and perspective to be the business leaders of tomorrow.
- Based on your performance and participation at the leadership conference, if you are recommended to participate in an office visit for a summer internship in KPMG’s Trainee Program, you will receive a $1,000 scholarship.
- Upon successful completion of your first internship, you will receive another internship offer to continue in the Trainee program. Should you accept this offer, you will continue in the Trainee program and receive additional scholarship dollars. You will continue in this program until the summer before your graduation.
- In your last summer, you will enter KPMG’s Practice Internship where you will gain actual hands-on experience through interactions with various clients in the line of business that you have chosen.
The application deadline is February 11th (extended from Feb. 6th).
On Campus Interviews: KPMG representatives will be on campus February 27th to conduct interviews for selected students.
Please email application and all requested materials to Caitlin Toohey, Manager Campus Recruiting, KPMG LLP at ctoohey@kpmg.com.
Greater Hartford Accounting Firms Facing Workforce Shortage
Hartford Business Journal – Hartford area accounting firms say they are on a hiring spree to address a region-wide personnel shortage driven by heavy workloads, increased competition for talent, and professional burnout.
While accounting has historically been an in-demand profession, a few changes in recent years have amplified competition among firms and corporations recruiting talent, said Mohamed Hussein, a professor and head of UConn’s accounting department, which graduates over 100 accounting majors per year.
2014 Business Graduates Quickly Landing Competitive Jobs, Noteworthy Salaries
The vast majority of the Class of 2014 from the School of Business, both undergraduate and MBA, were quickly employed following graduation, with many commanding impressive salaries.
UConn career services experts credited this success to well-prepared students who are ready to roll-up their sleeves, who have had meaningful internships, and a powerful and committed alumni team who are networking, coaching and hiring new grads.
Dean John Elliott has emphasized the power of this package. “Increasingly our courses and degree programs are designed and changed based on advice from committed alumni and other corporate friends, who help ensure that our students have the best education we can provide. Moreover, they step forward to mentor students and help open doors to them as job candidates. Of course the ultimate job offer is something the student earns and that is as it should be.”
MBA Graduates Averaging $101,000 Salaries
Graduates of the Full-time MBA program had great employment success, with 76 percent having jobs at graduation, and 94 percent having a job within three months of graduation. The mean salary was $101,562. The average student commanded a starting salary that was almost 12 percent higher than 2013 graduates. The highest salary reported among new graduates was $160,000.
New graduates from the MBA program also reported significantly larger sign-on bonuses as compared to their counterparts from 2013.The mean sign-on bonus for 2014 was $19,500, up 63 percent from 2013.
U.S. citizens reported higher salaries than foreign nationals, earning an average of $102,500 a year to the foreign students’ $95,000. However, the foreign students saw a 25 percent increase in their average base salaries compared with their counterparts from the previous year, indicating that the pay gap is closing. “We are recruiting stronger international students with great communication skills, and employers are recognizing their talent and hiring them,” said Meg Warren, assistant director of the MBA Career Development Office. All the foreign nationals accepting a job, did so in the United States.
“What we think is really impressive is that the jobs MBA candidates are accepting are diversified,” Warren noted. “Our students are getting great regional jobs, but also accepting challenging jobs across the country. Our students are fighting for competitive jobs, and getting them. We are a small program, but we’ve kept our admission standards at a high level, which, in turn, impacts successful job placement.”
Top companies like GE, T-Mobile, Paypal/eBay, Pitney Bowes, Philips, Prudential and The Hartford are regularly recruiting from the School of Business’ MBA program, she said.
“I don’t know what we’d do without our alumni,” Warren said. “They give generously of their time and willingly converse with our students. This has strengthened students’ preparedness and therefore affects the bottom line: securing a meaningful internship or job.”
Undergraduates Boast 77 Percent Employment
Undergraduate students also fared well in employment. Three months after graduation, 77 percent of those seeking employment had secured jobs. The average salary for student full-time hires was $55,683, but UConn business school graduates received offers up to $75,000 in management information systems and $70,000 in finance.
“The School of Business’ reputation has grown each year,” said Lorraine Liswell, program manager for the Undergraduate Career Development Office. Many more employers are coming in, hoping to interview students on campus, she said.
“Companies find UConn students competitive and willing to roll up their sleeves and go to work,” she added.
Many recent graduates are staying in Connecticut, or nearby in New York or Massachusetts, she said. She’s noticed that new alumni are gravitating to “rotational programs” in large companies that allow them to experience four or six different roles before selecting the one that best suits them.
Kathy Hendrickson, assistant director of the Undergraduate Career Development Office, said she’s noticed a change in undergraduate students, who arrive on campus with long-term plans.
“Freshmen are walking in our door and asking about the job-search process within the first few weeks of arriving on campus,” she said. “They’re asking what they need to do to land an internship as a freshman. This type of energy and preparation at the beginning of their college career makes them stronger candidates for landing competitive jobs.”
Likewise, the corporate community is also focused earlier in the process, and many firms are beginning the process of talent identification and relationship building in the freshman or sophomore year, earlier than ever before, Elliott noted.
More than ever, UConn faculty and alumni are invested in helping undergraduate students find good jobs right out of school, she said. For example, marketing professor Bill Ryan invited representatives from Whirlpool in Michigan to meet students, and this relationship helped create new internships and led to some students obtaining full-time positions.
“We also have a strong alumni base that consistently pushes the needle at their organizations to hire more UConn alumni,” Hendrickson said. “Dan Toscano ’87 at Morgan Stanley, and Tom Marshella ’79 at Moody’s, and Shapleigh Smith at Citi are examples of alumni who take a personal interest in the success of our students. It is a team effort that helps the School of Business students to compete and succeed in the job market.”
‘Career Connections’ Introduces 200 Grad Students to Future Employers
Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Blum Shapiro, Travelers and Priceline.com were just some of the companies seeking employees and interns at the inaugural Career Connections event for graduate business students at UConn.
More than 200 candidates earning advanced degrees in business—including MBA, Master of Science in Business Analytics and Project Management, Master of Science in Financial Risk Management and Master of Science in Human Resource Management—attended the November 12 event, which was at the UConn School of Business Graduate Business Learning Center (GBLC) in downtown Hartford.
Also among the 16 companies in attendance were: Aetna, Boehringer Ingelheim, Fiduciary Investment Advisors, Fitch Ratings, GE, The Hartford, Henkel, Infosys, iTech Solutions, Northwestern Mutual, Stanadyne Corp. and VoiceGlance.
All companies were represented at the career-fair style gathering on the Observation Deck, where students were able to talk individually with each company representative. Almost half of the companies also chose to offer a presentation in one of the adjoining classrooms, where interested students were able to learn more about each organization and possible career paths. In addition, companies were able to interview immediately in private conference rooms.
“This highly attended, successful event demonstrated the positive impact of having all graduate business programs together in Hartford,” said Meg Warren, assistant director of the Graduate Career Development Office. UConn’s Full-time MBA program recently moved from Storrs to Hartford. “Recruiters and hiring managers alike were pleased to see the range of graduate business talent all under one roof, in one venue.”
Frank Guardi: 2014 Graduate Accepts Digital Marketing Job
Frank Guardi is a ’14 UConn graduate with a communication major and a business fundamentals minor. Guardi has accepted a position in IBM’s Marketing and Communication Department as a social business and social media specialist. His job responsibilities include monitoring social conversations, managing user communities, and social media platforms such as corporate blogs, Facebook, and Twitter, and designing and implementing social media campaigns.
With a focus on digital marketing and social media, Frank enrolled in Professor Jane Gu’s Digital Marketing class, and found the class very helpful in preparing for his planned career. As part of the class, Guardi learned how to conduct social monitoring and search engine optimization (SEO) as well as important social media frameworks such as the “engagement pyramid.” Taking the class got him up to date with the digital marketing activities of major companies, such as Google and Amazon. For his class project, Frank worked with five other students to develop an integrated digital marketing plan to market Cape Cod potato chips to the west coast.
As a student, Guardi worked to build his digital marketing credentials and interned with an MLB baseball team to manage its social media campaigns and with IBM’s external relations department. Guardi’s advice to students is to “start an internship early in their junior year or before entering senior year in the area or company they are interested in, and to start planning to job-hunt once they begin their senior year. The market is becoming more and more competitive. You have to get ready early.”
Guardi, a student athlete, is a member of the UConn football team. He admits, “Spending forty hours in training and maintaining a good GPA at the same time is not easy.” Nonetheless, this experience has sharpened his capabilities in time management, teamwork, social skills, and commitment, qualities that employers highly desire.
Guardi relocated to Austin, Texas for his new job in late May. “It is a fun city with a lot going on,” Guardi smiled. “I expect to stay active.”
Passed Over for a Promotion? Stuck in a Job Rut? Speaker to Discuss How MBA Can ‘Catapult’ Career
The UConn chapter of the National Association of Women MBAs is sponsoring a program titled, “Using Business School to Catapult Your Career,” at 6 p.m. Sept. 30 at the UConn School of Business’ Graduate Learning Center, 100 Constitution Plaza, Hartford.
Guest speaker is Nicole Lindsay ’96, an award-winning author of “The MBA Slingshot for Women,” director of leadership and development at the ZOOM Foundation, and founder of DiversityMBAPrep.com.
Lindsay describes herself as a “fanatical advocate” of MBA and graduate-management education. In her career, she has supported more than 1,000 pre-MBA and MBA students, mainly women and minorities, in their application process and subsequent careers. She said the application process can be overwhelming. Fourteen years after completing her business degree, Lindsay said she is still discouraged that the number of women and minorities in MBA programs has not significantly increased.
The keynote presentation and question and answer session will be at 6 p.m., followed by a networking program at 7 p.m. For additional information or to register, please contact Amanda Spada at aspada@business.uconn.edu or call (860) 486-5498.
Lindsay earned her Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from UConn, her law degree from the University of Virginia School of Law and her MBA from the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business.
She began her career in corporate- and community development- finance before becoming associate director of admissions and student affairs at the Yale School of Management, where she oversaw minority and women admissions and diversity student affairs. She later worked at Goldman Sachs, managing MBA recruiting initiatives at the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania, and other prominent business programs. She later worked at Management Leadership for Tomorrow, in various roles including director of the MBA Prep program and as vice president of talent development. She then served as the founding executive director of New York Needs You (NYNY) and now is the director of leadership development for a family foundation in Connecticut.
New Undergraduate Center at UConn School of Business Centralizes Student Services
The School of Business has established a new Undergraduate Center, combining important student services into one central location. The Center, which was formed over the summer, is located in Suite 248, and will now house the Office of Undergraduate Advising, the Undergraduate Career Development Office, the Office of Diversity Initiatives and the Business Writing Center.
“I’m very excited because this will provide efficient, one-stop shopping for our undergraduates,” said Larry Gramling, associate dean for undergraduate programs. “It will be extremely convenient for students, and provide even greater opportunity for the professional staff to collaborate.”
The new center is designed to offer support that is completely dedicated to the undergraduate students’ professional needs. The Center takes advantage of space formerly occupied by the Full-time MBA program, which has since relocated to Constitution Plaza in downtown Hartford.
Brandy Nelson, who had formerly served as an academic advisor, is now the director of the Office of Undergraduate Advising (formerly known as the Undergraduate Programs Office) and the program can be reached at (860) 486-2315. Kelly Kennedy, well-known for teaching career development courses, will continue in that role as well as creating a new academic advising program that will engage students through all four years.
Kathy Hendrickson is serving as the assistant director of the Undergraduate Career Development Office (formerly known as the Business Career Center). That program can be contacted at (860) 486-5136.
Seanice DeShields is director of The Office of Diversity Initiatives, and that office can be reached at (860) 486-4135.
Jeffrey Roberts is director of the Business Writing Center, which can be contacted at (860) 486-9011.
Another familiar presence in the new center is Debbie Smith, who will now serve as front-desk receptionist in addition to her duties with the Career Development Office.
Alumni Mentorship Program Forging Professional Relationships
The Alumni Mentorship Program, a collaboration between the School of Business Office of Alumni Relations and the Business Career Center, is actively creating opportunities for students to make professional relationships for a lifetime.
Connecting over 100 students one-on-one with alumni in their chosen field, the program spans four cities – Hartford, Conn., Stamford, Conn., New York, New York, and Boston, Mass. Mentoring activities include scheduled phone conversations, email exchanges, informational interviews, half/full day job shadowing, and networking meeting events. Over the 2013-14 academic year, mentors and mentees connected at two networking dinners that are planned again for this coming fall. Most recently, students connected with the alumni volunteers at “speed mentoring” events in Hartford and Stamford. See photos.
Launched in 2011, the program was designed to connect top School of Business students with alumni mentors in business who are committed to building a strong mentoring relationship in aiding students in launching their career. Discussions help the students to learn about opportunities that could broaden their education and knowledge of their chosen field, explore their strengths and weaknesses, and to learn how to communicate effectively in networking situations and build a solid network.
Alumni who are interested in volunteering or hearing more about this rewarding way to give back are encouraged to reach out to Fran Graham in the Alumni Relations Office at fran.graham@business.uconn.edu.
School of Business students who wish to apply for the program are asked to reach out to Kelly Kennedy in the Business Career Center at kelly.kennedy@business.uconn.edu.
Pictured: A student chats with Michael Golden ’84, strategic relationship manager for Fireman’s Fund Insurance Company.
Internships in Marketing, Sales and Social Media
Internships offer our students excellent opportunities to get hands-on experience in all aspects of marketing. During the summer of 2013, Caitlin Taylor ’14 completed an internship in marketing and social media at The Blaze, a multi-platform news, information, and entertainment network headquartered in New York City and Dallas. Caitlin worked to identify new cable affiliates and assisted the marketing department on “Get The Blaze” projects, including crafting call-to-action posts for Facebook and Twitter, organizing a media discussion panel in Washington D.C. with U.S. Congressmen and Senators, and traveling to the National Cable Television Cooperative Conference in San Diego. Caitlin found her internship by initially connecting on LinkedIn with UConn alumnus Christopher Balfe, President and COO of Mercury Radio Arts, who currently heads up The Blaze.
Caitlin credits the UConn School of Business for providing her with a solid foundation of coursework which led to her success in this position. She stated, “I had to personally sell the network in person and over the phone—my sales classes gave me the tools and experience through the semester long role plays to successfully connect with affiliates to close the deal. Before my internship, I never really considered the media industry. I enjoyed the dynamic environment so much so that I wish to seek out other full-time opportunities in the media world.”
If you or your company are interested in hosting a summer marketing or sales intern, please contact William Ryan, Marketing Instructor in Residence,william.ryan@business.uconn.edu