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Career Services Notes for MSBA Students
Friday, August 23, 2019
Greetings MSBA Students! I enjoyed meeting you yesterday at Orientation, and I posted the presentation slides to "Files" on the MSBA Gies Groups portal. I hope that you enjoyed today’s trip to Allerton Park, and the Team Building Activity. You’re off to a great start!
Remember that all “Career Services Notes” will be archived on Gies Groups, MSBA program portal, in the “Newsletters” tab. I try to NOT repeat information from week to week, so it is important that you read the newsletter when it arrives, and then refer to past issues on Gies Groups if you have questions about a topic that has been included previously.
Topics in this week’s “Notes”:
- “Career Studio” ready for you to “Drop In” for instant advising
- Scheduled career advising appointments
- Handshake
- Company-Hosted Recruiting Events this Week
- KPMG China Online Info Session
- Deloitte
- Career Development Workshop this week
- Welcome to Fall Recruiting – Friday, August 30, 2:00pm RSVP on Gies Groups
- Illinois Business Consulting (IBC) - Application deadline Sunday, August 25
- Illinois Consulting Consortium – Interested Students need to apply by Wednesday August 28
- Registered Student Organizations (RSOs) Doing Consulting Projects
- Quad Day – Sunday, August 25, 12:00noon until 4:00pm, Main Quad
- Professional Practice: How to Request to Connect on LinkedIn
Career Studio
Career Services will have a Peer Career Advisor available between 10:00am and 4:00pm, Monday through Friday in the “Career Studio”, in our reception area – 1033 BIF. You are encouraged to stop by the “Career Studio” and get help from an advisor whenever you have a quick question, or need support sorting out an urgent situation. The idea is that a conversation in the Career Studio should be a 5-to 10-minute conversation. The Peer Advisors will refer you to an Advisor (Elizabeth Chominski, Deb Hom, Lily Huang, Layla Alazawy or myself) when an Advisor’s involvement will be helpful to you.
Scheduled Career Advising Appointments
Stopping in at the Career Studio is a great way to get “quick questions” answered. When you have concerns that will take more than 10 minutes to discuss, please schedule an appointment on Gies Groups (Career Advising Appointments). Any topic related to your career development or job search can be discussed in an appointment. At this time of the year, Peer Career Advisors and Layla are available to help with your resume, and LinkedIn profile. Schedule an appointment with me if the topics that concern you include career search strategy, industry exploration, or more ‘big picture’ conversations about ‘how things work’. These next few weeks will be very busy, and it may be difficult to find available appointment times. Therefore, it is very important that once you schedule an appointment, you keep the appointment!
Handshake
A Handshake account will be automatically created for every student – once the student has registered for classes. Note that it may take up to 48 hours after registering for classes for your Handshake account to be created. When your account has been created, Handshake will send you a message with instructions on what to do next to activate your account.
Note: Please DO NOT do anything to request or create your own account, because this blocks the system from automatically creating the account for you! (If you have unwittingly taken steps to request or create your own account, please let me know and we will find and destroy that request so that your account is correctly established.)
Handshake instruction will be included in the “Welcome to Fall Recruiting” workshop next Friday, August 30. If you have a handshake account, find time this weekend to get acquainted and comfortable using Handshake. Specifically:
- Upload your Updated Resume
- The information from your resume will pre-populate your Handshake profile
- Make your resume “Visible on Profile” so that your resume is included when recruiters search Handshake for resumes of students meeting certain selection criteria
- Complete your Profile
- Information from your resume needs to be verified/approved -- a very quick process
- The more information you provide in your profile, the more targeted information will be “pushed” to you via Handshake – and the more likely it is that your profile will be included when recruiters search Handshake for students with your profile.
- Preview companies attending On Campus Career Fairs (“Events” > “Fair Search” > select a fair > click on “View All Employers” on the left side to get the company lists)
- Make your notes to yourself now, to use at the Career Fair
- Look in the “Jobs on Handshake” section of the company description, to see what positions they’ll focus recruiting on at the Career Fair
- If there is not currently a “Jobs on Handshake” section in the company’s Career Fair description, make a note to yourself to check back at least a week before the career fair to see what positions are posted on Handshake; many companies do not post actual positions on Handshake until shortly before the career fair
- You can also check the company website to see what positions are posted. Keep in mind that not all positions on the company website will be included in the company’s on-campus recruiting efforts
- “Favorite” companies, and “Favorite” positions on the job board
- This will inform the Artificial Intelligence that powers Handshake of your preferences, so that the suggestions Handshake provides are as relevant as possible to your search.
- Also – set your “Notifications” so that you get a message when the companies you “Favorite” add a job or an event on Handshake!
- Look ahead at “Events” to stay on top of company-initiated recruiting events on campus. I will try to highlight company-initiated events in this newsletter, but the honest truth is that some companies post events on Handshake with as little as 24 hours advance notice. If you are checking Handshake frequently, and “favorite” companies that interest you, you will get the information you need!
Company-Hosted Recruiting Events this Week
In this newsletter I will include information on events I am aware of, that should interest you! For complete information on the event, please check the “Events” tab in Handshake. Coming this week:
- KPMG China Info Session – learn about opportunities in China and Hong Kong
- Desserts with Deloitte & Networking - meet professionals, introduce yourself
Note: Company-hosted events open to all students are posted in the “Events” tab of Handshake. In addition to the above events, which target business students, you will find events is intended for students in other disciplines. Students in all programs who are interested in attending information sessions intended for other programs are welcome to attend, which is why the events are posted in Handshake for all students to view. However, this newsletter will focus on events specifically targeting graduate business students.
Career Development Workshop this Week
General information about aspects of your career search is presented in workshops open to all Business Graduate Students. Career Advisors present these workshops to help you succeed in your job search. Information presented in workshops can NOT be delivered in individual advising appointments. However, the content of these workshops is addressed in online resources such as “Beyond B-School" and “VAULT” and “LinkedIn Learning”, to which you have subscription access as graduate students in Gies College of Business.
At the bottom of this newsletter you will find a link to each event posting on Gies Groups. Attendance is limited by the size of the room available for the event. If you plan to attend (and ONLY if you plan to attend), please click the green RSVP button to save your seat.
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- Welcome to Fall Recruiting – Friday, August 30, 2:00pm RSVP on Gies Groups
If you have RSVPed for an event, and your plans change, please return to Gies Groups and cancel your reservation at least 24 hours before the event so that another student will be able to RSVP.
Illinois Business Consulting (IBC)
IBC provides students opportunities to gain real-world skills that will enhance your capabilities, elevate your career and open doors to new opportunities. Newly-arrived students interested in joining IBC need to apply by Sunday, August 25. Admission to IBC is quite competitive, and it is not uncommon for students who apply and are not invited to join in Fall Semester to re-apply and be invited to join in Spring Semester. So: my advice is that every student who is at all interested in IBC should apply for Fall Semester. If you are invited to join, you’ll get the experience in Fall Semester – and if you aren’t invited for Fall Semester, the experience of applying in Fall Semester will help you prepare to apply in Spring Semester!
Complete information about IBC, and link to the application, is on online at http://www.ibc.illinois.edu/
Illinois Consulting Consortium
Illinois Consulting Academy, in partnership with Business Career Services and Engineering Career Services, invites you to participate in the Fall 2019 Consulting Consortium!
Date: Friday, September 6, 2019
Time: 8:30 AM – 1:00 PM
Location: Illini Union
Program: Opportunity to learn about various consulting firms and roles, and for you and firm representatives to network through a panel, a business case run-through, and an open networking session.
Firms Registered: Accenture, Avencore, Bain and Company, Boston Consulting Group, Crowe Horwath, Deloitte Consulting, EY, FTI Consulting, Galt & Company, Healthscape, KPMG, Ocean Tomo, Premier International, PwC, Protiviti, Stax Consulting, and West Monroe Partners. Please note that most of the firms are also participating in the Business Career Fair and/or Engineering Career Fair so look for them there as well!
Who Can Participate: Juniors, seniors, and graduate students in Business, Engineering, and non-Business/Engineering majors involved in consulting programs and seeking careers in consulting with the participating firms
Seats are limited, so registration will be conducted through a lottery process.
Step 1: Review the details of the program and determine if you are interested, qualified, and available to attend on Friday, September 6, 2019 from 8:30 am - 1:00 pm
Step 2: Complete this request form by 11:59 PM on WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 28 to secure your lottery ticket.
Step 3: You will be notified by 5 PM on Friday, August 30 if you are confirmed, wait-listed, or not qualified to participate. If you are confirmed, you are expected to attend so that the limited seats are not wasted. Cancellations after notification and no-shows to the event will be charged $25.
Step 4: If you are selected confirmed to attend, you will be requested to provide your resume to be included in a resume book which will be distributed to the recruiters. Instructions will be included in the confirmation. Note that paper resumes are not to be brought to the event.
Dede’s Note: students who are selected from the lottery to attend the Consulting Consortium will need to request an excused absence from Frontiers in Technology class that day. If selected to attend the Consulting Consortium, you need to attend the entire event.
Registered Student Organizations (RSOs) Doing Consulting Projects
Don’t overlook the fact that there are many ways to get experience providing consulting services to clients – and depending on your career goals, an organization other than IBC may be the best fit for you. Illinois Consulting Academy is an RSO that serves to foster collaboration among these organizations. Check out the ICA website at http://illinoisconsultingacademy.com/
Here are the organizations I am aware of, and you should check into so that you know their purposes, application processes, deadlines, and so on:
There are very likely a few more student organizations that work on client projects – you’ll find over 700 student organizations recruiting members at Quad Day – Sunday August 26, 12:00 noon until 4:00pm on the Main Quad!
Professional Practice: How to (AND NOT TO) Request to Connect with a Professional on LinkedIn
Everyone has heard that your professional network will be a very important source of information as you pursue career opportunities. NOW is the time create/polish your LinkedIn Profile – and Career Services advisors are here to help!
When your profile is at the point where it will impress all visitors to your LinkedIn page, the next step is to start requesting connections via LinkedIn. Start to build your connections by reaching out to people you already know. Send connection requests to your classmates, former colleagues in past internships, former classmates, professionals you have met at an event, and others you know who have LinkedIn Accounts. But read carefully: IF YOU EXPECT A PROFESSIONAL TO ACCEPT YOUR REQUEST TO CONNECT, YOU MUST (yes, MUST) ask by sending a personalized message to that person! This means that you need to be loggedin to Linked on your computer –NOT YOUR PHONE –when you invite someone to connect. When on your computer, find the person’s profile, and then click on the blue “connect” button at the top of the screen. Then, click on “Add a note” and write a message that is fewer than 300 characters. The message should reference how you met the person, and what your goal is in requesting to connect on LinkedIn. The message needs to be in your own words, and pertain specifically to the person you are
asking to connect with. Most professionals (especially successful professionals, who you want in your network!) are careful about who they connect with, since everyone who is a first connection potentially has access to one’s extended network.
What you DO NOT want to do is: use your phone to look up potential contacts on the LinkedIn mobile app, and click “connect” on the mobile app. That results in exactly what you DO NOT want to do (and happens much too frequently to students who want to connect with me ....). When you click “Connect” on the Mobile App, LinkedIn does NOT give you the opportunity to write a personalized message. Instead, LinkedIn automatically sends that person a standard message: “Hi Dede, I’d like to join your LinkedIn network.” To me, this message is rude (i.e., it is offensively impolite or ill-mannered), as it asks for permission to gain access to my professional network with no explanation of who you are, or why you are interested in connecting with me.
There is a way to create a personalized invitation using the mobile app, however! If you have read this far in the newsletter, let me know next time you see me... Your reward for reading this newsletter will be that I will show you how to get to the place where you can write a personalized message, using the LinkedIn mobile app!
Note that earlier I mentioned that your first connections should be with people you already know. You want to build the number of connections, since people you reach out to will notice how actively you have used LinkedIn before contacting them. Having a larger network encourages potential connections to accept your request to connect. There will come a time when you want to reach out to people you have not met in person, however. Make sure that you personalize the message when you ask to connect, and explain how you found them on LinkedIn, and why you would like to connect. Most professionals are generous with their professional knowledge, and will accept a connection request from a student who appropriately requests to accept.
Career Services advisors are here to help, so come to the Career Studio during Drop-In Advising for help with writing personalized messages that will result in professionals accepting your request to connect!
That’s it for today. Enjoy the weekend, and I will see you next week!
Dede
Dede Kern Brown
Gies Business Career Services
1033 BIF
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