A trio of executives, all College of Business graduates, spent an hour Monday afternoon fielding questions and offering career tips to about 40 students during a panel discussion in the Austin Hall Events Room.
The panel included Angelina Lusetti, a human resources business partner with Target; tax attorney and retired Starbucks vice president Elise McClure, and Eileen Frack, director of executive management development for Daimler Trucks North America.
The session started with suggestions for applying and interviewing:
- Find a way to make your interview answers stand out from everyone else’s.
- Be aware that prospective employers are looking at the entire resume, not just grade-point average.
- Research the organization you’re interviewing with before you go in for the interview.
- Say you really want the job and why you’d be great at it.
- Hone your face-to-face communication skills and writing skills, both of which can suffer from too heavy a day-to-day reliance on text messaging.
- Take pains to come across as a good, friendly person, since many organizations have a strict no-jerks hiring policy.
The talk then shifted to how to establish yourself in your career and move it forward, and the array of tips centered around one key theme: “Manage your own career and compensation,” said McClure, meaning it’s up to you to try to make things happen regarding advancement and raises, because if you don’t, likely no one will.
Other thoughts from McClure:
- “Don’t be afraid to move.”
- “Understand the culture of your company.”
- “Be willing and able to ask questions.”
- “Be open to what comes,” as in, don’t become hidebound by the career plan you’ve mapped out.
Frack stressed the importance of learning how to say no and trying hard not to work for bosses you don’t like or respect. She also urged students to “find what feeds your soul” and to establish a healthy work/life balance, including serving on boards of volunteer groups, both for community benefit and to develop leadership skills.
Lusetti emphasized balance too, noting that she puts personal activities on her calendar as a means of holding herself accountable to actually doing them. She also told students to be willing to step outside of their comfort zones as a path toward learning and growth.
The Career Success Center organized Monday’s event. For more career advice, drop by the center, Austin Hall 102, and follow it on Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/OSUBIZJOBS.
