Early on in her career, Brandi Fuhrman realized that her favorite part in any position she held was helping her coworkers.
“I like feeling like I’ve been helping someone,” said Fuhrman, the new director of the College of Business Career Success Center.
“We’re all human, we all make mistakes,” she said. “If I can help someone by sharing about my mistakes or just observations as I try to help them through something and help them be better, that for me is really rewarding.”
As the new Internship and Career Services Coordinator for the Career Success Center, that’s Fuhrman’s main task, helping COB students not only connect with jobs and internships but preparing them for those opportunities and present themselves in the best way possible.
The Career Success Center helps students prepare for a job search and eventual career through information sessions with companies, professional development workshops to teach essential personal skills and other services such as job and internship listings, resume help and more.
Fuhrman is excited by the possibilities the center holds (she started officially Feb. 6) and is looking forward to adding to its offerings.
“Everyone has been extremely welcoming. The students have been great,” Fuhrman said. “I think it has the ability to grow quite a bit.”
A native of Southern California, Fuhrman came to Oregon to attend the University of Portland before coming to Oregon State for her MBA in 2003.
Most recently Fuhrman worked as a senior operations leader for Target in Albany, running the shipping department but also working as a recruiter and helping develop Target managers for more senior positions with the company.
“A lot of what Target’s culture is and what drew me to this job is development,” she said. “A lot of time was spent working with my direct managers and helping to develop them so that they can get promoted or help them become better leaders.”
She remembered one manager who needed work on interpersonal skills, but showed promise with more analytical tasks.
Fuhrman worked to develop ways for him to spark conversations with coworkers while also introducing him to company leaders who could help develop his skills with data and analytics.
“He was a huge asset to Target but maybe not in that role,” Fuhrman said. “He was probably your average manager, but I saw the potential. That was extremely rewarding.”
As a recruiter, Fuhrman represented Target at career fairs, mock interviews and other events, those same activities she’ll now counsel College of Business students in mastering.
“I was the person on the other side at the career fair, trying to tell you about Target, analyzing the student standing in front of me,” she said. “Now I’m on the other side trying to give them tips and pointers on how to be the person standing in front of the recruiter that when you walk away the recruiter is writing great things about you on your resume instead of putting it in the ‘no’ pile.”