Month: March 2012

Day in the Life: Business Intelligence Consulting

What does Business Intelligence Consulting have to do with technology? And, what is it exactly?  We’re excited to welcome alum, Corey Hulse, to @PennCareerDay on Friday, March 30th.  Corey will talk about this unique career path that combines technology and business development in the consulting arena. To learn more about Corey, read below and follow him on the 30th!

Corey Hulse graduated from Penn in 2007.  He concentrated in Operations Information Management (OPIM) and Legal Studies (LGST) at Wharton.  During OCR his senior year, he was fortunate to find a job as a Consultant with Thorogood Associates, a Business Intelligence consulting firm, and has been with the firm for just about five years.

Thorogood’s clients are large multi-national enterprise organizations that have large amounts of data, and they work with them to implement solutions that allow them to make faster, more informed, and better business decisions.  The company will work with the client to figure out what’s best to address their challenges, and implement solutions using technologies from Microsoft, SAP, IBM, Oracle, QlikView, and Tableau.

During his time at Thorogood, Corey’s worked with retail clients like Chanel and multiple different clients from the Consumer Packaged Goods sector.  He’s been able to learn about, work with, and build solutions for multiple different business areas like finance, logistics, human resources, and factory production.  He’s also been able to travel to the company headquarters in London on multiple occasions for both client work and to contribute to internal company initiatives.

When he’s not working, Corey enjoys photography, board games, and spending way too much playing in Excel.  He’s developed a passion for interesting graphs and visualizations, and blogs for both GraphGraph.com and Geekadelphia.com.

Day in the Life: IBM Client Executive

What’s life like at a leading technology company?  Learn first hand from Jeannine Carr on @PennCareerDay, Tuesday, March 27th.  Jeannine has worked for IBM in various areas over the course of her career.  It’s important to understand the different areas one company has to offer in technology and other industries, as well.  What better way to learn the diverse functions at a large organization than from an experienced Penn alum?! Read more about Jeannine below and to view her posts from Tuesday, March 27th, 2012 – visit her story on our Storify account!

Jeannine is a Client Executive in IBM’s Distribution Industry Sales Organization.  She is responsible for IBM’s relationship, revenue and client satisfaction for 4 global clients:  3 in retail and 1 in consumer products.   Her career at IBM has spanned a number of roles including Manufacturing Engineer, Project Manager, Technical Sales Specialist, Services Business Development Executive, and Operational Contract Specialist.

Day to day activities include:  developing relationships with clients, meeting with executives at clients in both IT and the business to understand business strategies and issues in order to identify sales opportunities, working with the extended IBM team to develop and execute plans to close business, acting as the IBM single point of contact and escalation point when clients have problems in their interaction with IBM, coordinating communication and activities among the extended IBM team in order to drive increased revenue and improved client satisfaction.

In addition to her professional responsibilities, Jeannine is a Mom with two sons – – one a junior in college and one a junior in high school.  Her husband, Thomas Carr, is a Penn graduate with a BS in Economics from Wharton.    She is also an active volunteer for the Theater Arts program at her local high school as a costumer for musical productions and is a member of the Penn Engineering Alumni Association Board.

Jeannine graduated from Penn Engineering in 1983 with a B.S. in Chemical Engineering.  She earned an MBA in 1997 from the Leonard Stern School of Business at New York University with a concentration in Finance and International Business.   She has also completed IBM’s Professional Certification program for sales professionals.

Interviewing Tips for Special Cases

By Sharon Fleshman

You enter an office.  The person sitting on the other side of the desk gets up, comes forward to shake your hand, and invites you to sit down.  While this would be considered the typical scenario for an interview, there are alternative settings that you should prepare for as well.

Phone Interviews One advantage of a phone interview is that you have an opportunity to establish rapport without the initial pressure of a face-to-face encounter and you can refer to notes as needed. However, it is critical to understand that since the interviewer can’t see you, you do not have the advantage of using visual non-verbal cues to reinforce your answers and convey enthusiasm about the position. Therefore, you must make sure that your tone of voice is as energetic as possible. Making sure that you are well-prepared and well-rested before the interview will be helpful in this regard. It is often said that smiling and having good posture while you speak enables you to maintain a natural and upbeat tone without becoming monotone in your pitch. While notes may be helpful, do not become so relaxed as to read them verbatim. This can make you sound stilted and less engaging to the employer.  If an employer calls unexpectedly and you are not prepared or in a good location to interview, always feel free to suggest setting up an appointment to have the discussion at a later time.

Video Interviews Video conferencing is a great option for employers who are on travel restriction, or otherwise cannot travel to campus to interview students. For video conference interviews, make sure that the space that you are in is not cluttered and does not distract from the conversation. You should be dressed professionally since the interviewer will see you. If you plan to use Skype, try to do a practice run with a friend to make sure you work out any potential technical glitches before the interview. Penn Career Services now offers video conferencing (ISDN, IP, Skype and GoToMeeting) to allow employers to interview students remotely. Students interested in reserving the equipment should go to: http://www.vpul.upenn.edu/careerservices/reservingspace for further instructions.

Panel Interviews For panel interviews, you are interviewed by multiple people at the same time and will likely be seated around a table with your interviewers.  This setup may seem daunting, but don’t let it intimidate you. The key is to engage everyone in the room so make sure to offer eye contact to all of your interviewers.  For instance, while answering a question, look at various people and as you wrap up your answer, make sure you are once again looking at the person who actually asked the question. If you are able to get the list of interviewers before the interview, try to memorize their names and learn about their duties and backgrounds ahead of time.

Group Interviews During group interviews, you are being interviewed along with other candidates. This usually takes place by way of an activity that requires a group discussion, perhaps leading to a group presentation.   Often with these interviews, employers are trying to sense how you would operate as part of a team. To that end, you need to strike a balance by making meaningful contributions to the discussion without dominating it.

Additional interviewing tips and resources for students and alumni from undergraduate and graduate programs are available on the Career Services website.  Best wishes for interviewing success!

Day in the Life: Project Manager for Urban Arts & Entertainment District

Missed Rebecca Chan’s live tweets on @PennCareerDay? You can read her archived tweet feed on Storify.

We’re excited for our upcoming PennDesign Career Connection Day on March 23rd for *PennDesign students only* in architecture, fine arts, landscape architecture, planning and preservation.  If you’re interested in these paths, but can’t attend the event – follow @PennCareerDay on Twitter on Thursday, March 22nd.  Rebecca Chan will discuss how she combined her passion for historic preservation and creative industries. Read about Rebecca’s background below and remember to follow her on the 22nd!

Rebecca Chan graduated from Penn Design in 2011 with a degree in Historic Preservation.  While at Penn, Rebecca augmented her preservation studies by completing coursework in community economic development and public policy. After researching and writing her graduate thesis on the relationship between the creative industries and historic preservation, Rebecca was brought on as a project manager for Station North Arts & Entertainment District in Baltimore, Maryland.

Currently, Rebecca is coordinating the first National Symposium on Arts/Cultural/Entertainment Districts to be held April 4-5th in Baltimore Maryland, as well as one of the largest street art festivals in the country, Open Walls Baltimore, which kicked off March 6th and will run through the end of May.

 


Are you Competent? Personal Qualities Medical Schools Seek in Applicants

http://nurseandlawyer.wordpress.com/2010/11/21/paging-doctor-nurse/

Those of you who despair that medical school admissions is too heavily driven by “numbers” may welcome the AAMC’s work towards identifying personal qualities necessary for medical school and practice while finding ways to recognize them in the admissions process.  The expanded use of the MMI format for medical school interviews also reflects this trend drive to find out more about the person behind the application.  As modern medicine and training change, medical students lacking particular personal characteristics are perceived as less able to learn, find job satisfaction, and deliver quality care.

It isn’t surprising that integrity and ethics, as they have always been, are absolutely necessary.  The ability to respect privacy, follow rules, and tell the truth — consistently — is required.

More intriguing are the qualities that are necessary to deal with challenges in life and shortcomings in oneself.  You may feel like you have to be the perfect person and student to get into medical school, but medical educators know that how you handle disappointment and problems shows your mettle.  Are you flexible and resilient in the face of stress and change, or do you melt down or become angry or rigid.  Do you know how to seek help and find ways to improve your areas of weakness, or do you avoid them or  blame others?

How do you relate to others?  Do you have experience relating to people from different backgrounds and do so effectively and respectfully?  Can you work as a team member as well as independently?  Do you express yourself well verbally while listening to others with empathy and respect?

Are you reliable?  Do you show up to work in lab or volunteer when scheduled, even when you may not feel like it?  Do you manage your activities so that you are able to fulfill your commitments rather than overextend yourself or become ineffective?

Do you want to spend the rest of your life serving others and learning new things?  Most medical school applicants do, however some say they do and some show that they do.  Medical schools are more convinced by demonstrated service to others and intellectual curiosity than assertions that one values these pursuits.

Every day presents you with opportunities to reflect upon and develop these personal characteristics.  They are essential to your personal and professional success in medical school and beyond.  If you are person who likes a plan and is a little bit of a perfectionist, think about the way you deal with unpredictability and disappointment.  Could you develop your flexibility by trying a new activity or learning something outside of your usual areas of interest?  Are you hanging around with the same people all the time? If so, perhaps you could spend time off campus, volunteering in the community.  Taking some chances and trying new things is an excellent way to grow and develop the qualities you need for your medical training and career.