New Northwestern Career Video Series Tells You How to Own Your Career
The Career Management Center (CMC) at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management recently launched the “Own Your Own Career” video series aimed to develop brave leaders.
The series was created for prospective and current students, along with alumni, to discuss aspects of managing a career throughout its life cycle. The videos also touch on how Kellogg students can bring value to employers and demonstrate the qualities they seek.
The goal of the video series is not only to help students launch their careers, but also to help them gain the skills and mindset they need to manage their careers over a lifetime, explains Liza Kirkpatrick, senior director of the CMC for the full-time MBA program at Kellogg.
Kellogg Senior Director of Career Management Liza Kirkpatrick
“To that end, we enlisted some of the best minds at Kellogg to address topics that are foundational to owning your career—developing your network, career agility, resiliency, selling your career, and leadership.”
Kirkpatrick continues, “These quick videos tell a narrative about career management that will resonate with and be informative to a broad array of audiences, including prospective and current students.”
The first four episodes of the “Own Your Own Career” series are already online.
- Episode 1: Starting the Career Journey—The first episode highlights three different individuals: Liza Kirkpatrick, Adnan Rukieh, director of the CMC for the executive MBA and evening & weekend MBA; and Matthew Temple, director of the CMC for alumni career and professional development. Together they discuss how individuals can start their career right now.
- Episode 2: Professor Harry Kraemer on Networking—The second episode delves into the importance of networking, emphasizing the value of helping others so they might return the favor in the future. Kraemer talks about networking as a lifelong journey and a key to reaching the C-suite.
- Episode 3: Associate Dean and Professor Bernie Banks on Leadership—This third episode discusses what it takes to be an influential leader who inspires people to perform. Banks dives deep into the situational nature of leadership and how to get people to fulfill your expectations.
- Episode 4: Professor Carter Cast on Career Agility—In episode four, Cast talks about being self-reflective during a career transition. He encourages viewers to understand their strengths and weaknesses and to think several steps ahead when it comes to their career.
“The video series enhances and expands the CMC’s foundational work by highlighting faculty and industry thought leaders who can provide practical examples based on their experience of how to actively manage or own one’s career,” Kirkpatrick says.
“The series provides a roadmap for being proactive and present in your own career development and encourages students to continue asking the right questions to shape their career, not only while looking for a job, but throughout their entire career life cycle.”
This article has been edited and republished with permissions from our sister site, Clear Admit.
Use These Key MBA Networking Strategies Before and After Graduation
In a competitive job market, current MBA students and recent graduates need to figure out how to stand out among their peers and make themselves attractive to potential employers. One of the most fundamental ways MBAs can maximize employment prospects, is to improve their networking skills.
Networking may be more than just a good employment strategy—it is actually a vital tool. According to Mark Brostoff, Assistant Dean and Director of Graduate Career Services at USC Marshall, “A successful job search begins and ends with successful networking. Networking should be one of the primary job search tools when pursuing a career,” he told MetroMBA.
With the advent of social media, networking is now an everyday part of our lives. Your internet presence is now a huge part of your job search. Brostoff highlights the unique value of maintaining the right kind of web profile: “Networking these days are [sic] both personal, as well as online, so maintaining a professional online appearance is extremely important before, during and after graduation.” Always keep in mind that while social media is a great way to communicate with friends and family, your online accounts are also a way of presenting yourself to potential employers.
The idea of MBA networking strategies may seem mystifying at first but as Terra Saltzman-Baker, the Director of Career Connections at UCSD’s Rady School of Management, assures, the idea is more ingrained within us than it may seem. “Quite simply, it means connecting with people. The more people that know you’re looking for a new job, or are changing your career focus, the more those around you may be able to assist.”
Successful MBA networking strategies are not only about reaching out to employers. An equally important move, and the first step in the process, is to inform those around you about career plans and ambitions. You never know how those in your social circle may be able to connect you to your ideal job. As Saltzman-Baker puts it, “it’s not just about the person you’re talking with, but those in their circle that they may think to connect you to.”
While it is a sensible move to use all of the online tools at your disposal, remember not to rely solely on the online communication that those platforms provide. Networking is all about building real relationships with others. At the heart of networking means valuing the quality of connections over quantity. Furthermore, connecting with others is not about simply finding those who can help you in your job search. Rather, the best networks benefit everyone involved. “Never mistake activity for progress,” says Dr. Janis Moore Campbell, Ph.D., the Director of Graduate Professional Development at Temple’s Fox School of Business.
“The best networking happens when people gather to learn from one another or to help one another,” she continues.
Stephanie Johnson, the Director of MBA/MS Career Services at Drexel University’s LeBow College of Business, also stresses that both parties must work together in order for the relationship to have any value. “Remember that networking is a reciprocal relationship, whenever possible, build mutually useful relationships where you aim to give before you expect something in return. In other words: “those who have given also receive.”
Stephanie Johnson, Director, MBA/MS Career Services – Photo via Drexel.edu
Perhaps one of the best MBA networking strategies is that it is never too early to start. The most successful networks are built before an MBA candidate begins their program, and then continue to evolve during and after school. Saltzman-Baker frames it simply: “The key is to start early. Don’t wait until you’re looking to make a change to use this strategy, but instead keep this up on a regular basis—you never know what may happen!”
Stevens Lecture Encourages Employees to Take Life and Career Into Their Own Hands
When it comes to relationships between employees and their employers, a lacking connection often means workers must do more for their own future, says Fran Dramis, who recently spoke at the Stevens Institute of Technology’s School of Business.
Dramis, a former leader at financial institutions like Salomon Brothers, CitiBank, BellSouth, and Coopers & Lybrand, explained that the lack of a meaningful social contract between corporations and employees means that workers must be strategic about their own job security.
“How do you make it so unintended consequences become intended? When the downsizing happens, the people who get eliminated are the support people, not the strategic people. Your job as a leader is to make your organization and your employees strategic. Don’t go to work someplace that doesn’t offer you that, or you’ll be the first to be laid off,” he explains.
As the CIO at BellSouth, Dramis retention strategy was to give employees “life security,” as opposed to job security. “You have to increase their marketability, help them learn new skills. If you give someone life security, they’ll stay with you.”
Stevens Professor and information systems expert Michael Parfett worked under Dramis in a few different positions over the years. In his introduction, Parfett praised Dramis’ “life security” approach. “He kept asking me if I was updating my résumé. No other boss has ever asked me to do that. People do that when they’re getting ready to leave. In his book, it’s part of his technique — he gives you the ability to leave, but you don’t want to.”
Dramis concluded his talk with some words that he hoped might light a fire under future MBAs. “We’re rapidly moving to a digital society, where the interaction between business processes and digital enhancement is creating incredible opportunities. No company will hire you and tell you you’ll be there for the next 30 years. You have to take responsibility for your own life security.”
UC Davis Offers Advice on How to Expand Development Networks
The UC Davis Graduate School of Management recently revealed work on its blog by organizational behavior professor Greta Hsu about the integral role a development network plays in advancing careers in an age of “decreasing job security, organizational change and rapid technological advancement.”
Becoming A Product Marketing Manager
Not long ago, MetroMBA looked into the growing popularity of the position of Product Manager for new MBA graduates. We also noted a growth in programs at business schools throughout the country focused on developing the necessary skills for securing a position in product management.
Columbia Alum Advises Millennials on Getting Ahead in their Careers
Columbia Business School recently published an article by Winged Keel Group President Alexander Tuff ’03 that offers millennials useful tips for navigating decisions that “will affect what you’ll do and where you’ll live for your entire career.”
Continue reading…
