The UCLA Anderson Parker Career Management Center is comprised of Career Coaches and Executives-in-Residence, who partner with students to define, pursue and achieve their post-MBA career goals, and the Campus Recruiting Team, which cultivates relationships with companies to connect them with the right MBA talent. Parker CMC Site
Childhood dream job: Host of the Today Show. I liked the idea of having coffee with half of America every day, and the
show seemed like a good balance of humor with serious news (plus celebrities).
But then I remembered that a) I have stage fright and b) I hate getting up
early.
Why business school? It sounds cliche, but I really wanted to find a job
that I both loved and could see myself in long term. I was fairly certain
marketing would be a good fit, but as an English major working in finance, it
was a tough sell. I knew I needed more education in the form of an MBA to make
the switch. And also, I was tired of not knowing what a t-stat was.
Why Anderson? I wanted to come back to California, and as I
researched business schools, Anderson stood out for several reasons. The
school's student body does not skew towards just consulting or finance, but has
a wide variety of backgrounds and interests. This makes both classroom
discussions and social events much livelier. Anderson also offers excellent
support and guidance for career switchers, and I knew I'd need major help in
that area. And every Anderson student I spoke to was engaging, friendly, and
seemed like someone I'd want to sit next to in class.
It also didn't hurt that the campus is absolutely
gorgeous.
Favorite class and why? I loved the core economics class. Professor Bursztyn
was fantastic, and "it depends" was a completely acceptable answer to
most questions.
Applied Management Research Project: To be determined, likely something related to social impact.
Favorite Anderson Event: Casino Night. We clean up good.
Anderson highlight: Any of the fall football tailgates. What could be better than
celebrating your school outdoors, with all of your friends, and with abundant
drinks and food?
What helped most in your interview preparation and career
search?
1. Doing a recorded mock interview with the Parker Career Management Center. It
definitely felt real, and got me in gear for final rounds.
2. Creating as many touchpoints with companies as
possible (presentations, days-on-the-job, career fair). It shows sincere interest and
gives you concrete examples to use in cover letters.
Teambuilding during Anderson orientation
Hardest interview question you've been asked: "Nurture versus nature?"
How did you land your internship? I talked to as many people as possible (especially
Anderson alums working in the type of role I was going for). Each conversation
taught me a little more about the company, and I felt really prepared going
into interviews.
Parting thoughts? Some general Anderson advice:
-Alternate between drinks and food at recruiting
events, never both at the same time. It's an awkward moment when you have to
hand your glass of wine to a recruiter because you need a free hand for a
business card.
-Beware the side of the classroom with a ramp
instead of stairs. The rolling chairs make for an interesting challenge.
-Turn off your brain over the summer. Everyone
survives the first quarter, even if they didn't spend the past 2 months
brushing up on accounting.
Post-Anderson: After graduation, I am returning to Medtronic to participate in their Leadership Development Rotation Program. This is a three year program in which I will do two rotations in two different locations, with two different Medtronic business units. It will allow me to explore different areas of Medtronic's business and challenge me to grow my skillset. I hope that after I complete this program I will find a position with the business unit that developed the particular medical device that has changed my life so that I can be a part of similarly changing many others.
Why Product Magement?I was born with a neurological movement disorder that has, and continues to inhibit my ability to do many physical activities. Four years ago, I underwent brain surgery as treatment for my disorder to receive a medical device revolutionized by Medtronic. My life has changed drastically and I have this amazing medical device and brilliant physicians to thank. Through my experience, I have seen what medical device innovation can do for patients and I decided I wanted to be involved in this process. I learned that I could channel my engineering background through product management and to have maximum impact in peoples' lives.
Why business school? After getting my master's degree in electrical engineering I thought I was done with school. I went out into the professional world and worked as an engineer for five years, only to learn that engineers only see a very finite portion of the product development sequence. As an engineer, I never got to see how the end-user got to benefit from my product, nor communicate to the customer the benefits and features of my product. I wanted to be involved in the entire sequence, from product creation and development through launch, so I needed to learn more about business.
Why Anderson? Anderson offers a collaborative environment to learn a broad array of skills. Coming to business school, I had an idea of what I wanted to do, but I was unsure of how to get there. I needed a business school that wasn't specialized in finance or marketing, but rather where I could get a general business education and customize my MBA. Anderson is strong in developing marketing, finance, consulting and entrepreneurial experts, and I needed the flexibility to try multiple areas of business and to find my niche. Anderson afforded me this opportunity.
Favorite class and why? Professor Victor Tabbush's Economic Evaluation of Healthcare. This class was highly pertinent to what I plan to go into post-MBA and gave me the opportunity to broaden my horizons on a cultural level. Included with this class was a week-long visit to Cape Town, South Africa. There I got to experience a drastically different culture and changed my perspective on the world we live in.
Applied Management Research Project: My AMR project was with DEI Holdings, the parent company to the Polk Audio and Definitive Technology personal audio brands. Our client wanted to enter the European headphone market and asked us to research and develop a market entry strategy where they could earn $10 million in annual sales within three years. Through this experience I learned a lot about a market I knew little about while having the chance to work with a product that I am extremely interested in, both as a consumer and as a transitioning engineer.
Anderson International Business Trip in Cape Town, South Africa
Anderson highlight: I was incredibly inspired by our company visit in South Africa to Mothers2Mothers, a non-profit business in Africa whose mission is to educate and counsel HIV Positive mothers through their pregnancy to help increase the likelihood of their baby being born HIV Negative. We heard from women who were recently told they were HIV Positive and they stood up in front of us, strong and confident and wanting their struggles to be a lesson for other women to learn from to lead to better outcomes. This continued to inspire me to find a career where I could make a significant impact in the lives of others.
Favorite Anderson Event: My favorite Anderson
trip was my week-long visit to Cape Town, South Africa. Not only did I get to
learn from exceptional speakers and company visits, but I got to experience
some once in a lifetime type experiences. I went on safari and saw lions,
elephants, rhinos, zebras and giraffes. I visited a township and got to speak
with native South African business owners about their struggles and successes.
I also stood at the Cape of Good Hope, the southernmost point of the African continent.
I will remember these experiences for the rest of my life.
What helped most in your interview preparation and career search? The two things that helped me most were ACT and mock interviews. ACT forced me to research industries that I found interesting and helped me learn about companies I wasn't familiar with. The mock interviews were a terrific opportunity to practice interviews before having to do the real thing. It was tremendously valuable to test out potential answers with classmates and the Parker advisors and receive their feedback as to how I can improve my interview skills.
Daniel (right) on a team bonding boat tour of Lake Minnetonka with Medtronic
Hardest interview question you've been asked: "Tell me about a time when your boss asked you to do something you felt was unreasonable or you wholeheartedly objected to."
How did you land your internship? I landed my internship through a lot of networking. Medtronic wasn't recruiting on campus at UCLA Anderson when I was searching for an internship so I needed to dig deep into my network. Having interned at Medtronic as an engineer many years prior to business school, I knew a lot of engineers at Medtronic. I called my friends and asked for contacts in marketing. I also spoke to my neurologist, who works with Medtronic sales reps to see what connections could be made. Through these connections, I was able to get my resume to Medtronic's MBA recruiters.
Describe you internship. I worked as a Product Marketing Manager at Medtronic Neuromodulation. My project was to manage the development of a new iPad App to be used by Medtronic's sales personnel in more targeted identification of physicians to sell Medtronic's Pain Management Neuromodulation products to. This allowed me to take part in the entire product development cycle. It began with managing the development of the features of the app. I also was in charge of developing marketing materials, including an online training module teaching users how to use the app. Finally, I got to manage a pilot launch of the app and to present my plan to the VP of Sales. It helped solidify for me that my transition from engineering to business was the right decision.
Parting thoughts? Coming to Anderson was one of the best decisions I have made. I am so happy with my experience and it has been a terrific launching point for the rest of my career.
--Drew Glicker, Parker CMC Social Media Coordinator
Post-Anderson: I accepted my full-time offer with HP's HR Management Associate Program (MAP), two years of rotations in various HR roles. I've also started a company with my sister called Graphic Girls, which designs bold, whimsical tees for young girls. We'll be launching a Kickstarter campaign at the end of March. ____________________________________________________________________________________
PRE-ANDERSON
Childhood dream job: President, because I wanted to help as many people as I could.
Why business school? From my professional experience, the people I wanted to model my career on all had MBAs. Business school had given them a mix of hard and soft skills. They were able to confidently talk about how to make predictions based on data as well as manage a large group of diverse individuals. Getting an MBA seemed like the logical next step in my career progression.
Why Anderson? When I was in high school, I attended the Riordan Scholars Program at UCLA Anderson. The program pairs inner-city students with Anderson student mentors. My mentors were phenomenal, and one of them even followed up with me 10 years later to ask if I was going to get my MBA. Anderson students make such a community impact in addition to being successful leaders in their professions, and I wanted to be one of them. ____________________________________________________________________________________
ANDERSON
Anderson Activities & Leadership: HR ACT coach; Admissions interviewer; Riordan Programs Volunteer; Co-Director of A-Days Weekend; VP, Professional Development of Women's Business Connection
Favorite class and why? I can't pick one, so it's going to be three.
Business Plan Development with Matt Ridenour: It taught me to take risks and do what I love.
Leading Teams with Prof. Bendersky: We got to analyze our teaming experiences immediately, which increased my understanding and appreciation of team dynamics.
Insight to Outcome, a strategy course led by Tom Wurster, a BCG senior partner and managing director: We had amazing strategy speakers from a variety of industries, and he helped me to understand how I could better drive and lead organizational changes.
Applied Management Research Project: I helped a classmate take his business idea and launch it as part of the Business Creation Option (BCO). Our company is called Penny Pets, and our first app, Memory Matching with Shelter Pals, is now available on Apple and Google app stores! We wanted to create a fun mobile gaming experience, and 25% of our net revenues will go to local, no-kill animal shelter partners.
Anderson International Business Trip in the Middle East with Prof. Gonzalo Freixes
Favorite Anderson Event: My favorite trip was a 10-day class I took the summer before my second year, International Business in the Middle East with Prof. Freixes and Prof. Abe. We traveled to Dubai and Jordan to learn about the business and cultural differences facing start-ups and multinational corporations. I got to know my classmates really well, and we toured the ruins of Petra, swam in the Dead Sea and experienced a desert safari!
Anderson highlight: Presenting the Best Mentor of the Year Award to my fellow classmate, Robert Rebholz, when I was the mentor coordinator for the Riordan Scholars Program. His high school student mentee wrote an amazing nomination about how Robert had inspired him and changed his life, and it was such a privilege to share the moment with them.
What helped most in your interview preparation and career search? The ACT team experiences and the Parker Career Counselors helped me the most. The second year students who led my ACT team were open, friendly and genuinely invested in our success. The counselors were invaluable resources for tailoring my resume to my new career and conducting mock interviews. I once had a phone interview in less than 24 hours, and they managed to squeeze me into their calendars to ensure I felt confident.
Satiya at an HP meeting during her internship
Hardest interview question you've been asked: "What sets you apart from every other great candidate we interview?"
How did you land your internship? Significant help from an Anderson alumnus Rory Chen ('11). He made sure HP recruited with UCLA Anderson, and we were introduced through the Parker Center when I indicated an interest in HR. He helped me to build my HP network quickly, setting up informal interviews for me and guiding me every step of the way.
Why HR? When I looked back on all my previous jobs, I realized the common element that I enjoyed the most was helping people feel valued as part of the company or team. I want to help employees find meaning in their jobs and map out how they can further develop their careers. Strategic HR was a great fit for me given my project management and client relationship experience.
Parting thoughts? I'm an MBA mom! Yes, I believe we should try to have it all, and I wouldn't be able to do this without the support of my husband, family and friends.
--Drew Glicker, Parker CMC Social Media Coordinator
Post-Anderson: I'm returning to
Amazon as a Sr. Product Manager in the group I interned with. I'm excited to
help my internship project move forward as well as work on optimizing the
existing services they offer.
____________________________________________________________________________________
PRE-ANDERSON
Childhood dream job: Scientist. I loved
science and building things.
Why business school? From my professional
experience, the people I wanted to model my career on all had MBAs. Business
school had given them a mix of hard and soft skills. They were able to
confidently talk about how to make predictions based on data as well as manage
a large group of diverse individuals. Getting an MBA seemed like the logical
next step in my career progression.
Why Anderson? I loved the attitude
that Anderson students had and the school's access to the technology community.
The students I talked to had done great things but were humble. And the
companies I was interested in were coming to Anderson to recruit.
____________________________________________________________________________________
ANDERSON
Anderson Activities & Leadership: Admissions
interviewer; Tech ACT coach; V.P. of External Relations of the High Tech Business Association
Favorite class and why? I really enjoyed the
class Leading Teams with Prof. Bendersky. There were constant team projects
that demonstrated the class concepts. We would come back from a simulation and
the teacher would be able to describe, in detail, how our team dynamics had
played out based on the research. It showed me that there were best practices
that you can use to get the most from a team you manage.
Applied Management Research Project: I choose the Business Creation Option (BCO) for my AMR project based
on a business plan that my team had developed first year to create a survey
system for small restaurants. We tested the idea in Westwood and ultimately
found that the value restaurants received was less than the cost of acquiring a
new customer. Even though the business idea didn't work out, it was great
experience testing an idea in a low-risk way.
Anderson's annual Tour de Strand
Favorite Anderson Event: The Tour de Strand is
a really fun annual tradition when hundreds of Anderson students and alumni rent bikes, dress up
in costumes, and ride from Santa Monica to Manhattan Beach. Anderson students and alumni dominate the
bike paths; the number of bikes is really overwhelming. And of course it’s hard
to beat a bike ride along the beach in May in Los Angeles.
Anderson highlight: Watching Anderson
play in the final game of the C4C basketball tournament. There were three former professional players
on the court and it was an amazing game that came down to the last shot.
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RECRUITING
What helped most in your interview preparation and career search? My
ACT team and the interview prep team I formed with teammates. We practiced
sample interview questions and critiqued each other. Great companies come to campus; it is just a matter of being prepared.
Brad at Amazon headquarters with fellow interns and Anderson classmates Josh Stark and Charlotte Baxter Maines
Hardest interview question you've been asked: "You
have 60 seconds to tell me how you'd deal with hundreds of customers who say
they were overcharged. Go."
How did you land your
internship? Attending Amazon's on
campus presentation, sitting at their table at the HTBA career night, and
applying through the Parker Center.
Why technology? I love the challenges
that tech industry faces. Things are always changing and you always have the
opportunity to do something new. The services also help so many other
companies allowing you to solve the problems of other industries
using the newest tools.
--Drew Glicker, Parker
CMC Social Media Coordinator
Pre-Business School: Television Sports Anchor/Reporter/Producer at CBS and ABC
Summer Internship: Corporate Communications at Nike
Post-Anderson: I will be going back to Nike to work in corporate communications. ____________________________________________________________________________________
PRE-ANDERSON
Childhood dream job: Sportscaster. I spent my summers growing up listening to Oakland A's games on the radio. The late Bill King provided the soundtrack for my youth in a lot of ways. So from a very early age, I knew I wanted to follow in King's footsteps and use my voice to bring the beauty of sports to life. I had a particular fascination with the television medium, which is why I pursued a career as a TV sportscaster.
Why business school? Someone once told me that, "You don't need an MBA to get into television news, but you do need one to get out of it." Truer words may never have been spoken. As much as I loved being on TV, and I really did love it, I was ready for a new challenge. In order to switch careers, I knew I had to acquire a new skill set. Business school was perhaps the most effective way for me to do that.
Not to be a passion buzz kill, but I found this Harvard Business Review article by Cal Newport very
interesting. When I was in undergrad, following your passion
was so often mentioned as the main career advice. And I am sure it was for you too. After reading this article, leave your comments at the end. I'd love to hear your thoughts.
Generation Y, of which I'm a member, is entering the job
market in record numbers, and according to many commentators things are not
going well.
One of the best-known books about my cohort, for instance,
is titled Generation Me. The New York Post called us "The Worst
Generation," while USA Today noted that we are "pampered" and
"high maintenance." Earlier this year, a New York Times op-ed called
us "Generation Why Bother," noting that we're "perhaps...too
happy at home checking Facebook," when we could be out aggressively
seeking new jobs and helping the economy recover. The fact that up to a third
of 25-34 year-olds now live with their parents only supports these gripes.
To many, the core problem of this generation is clear: we're
entitled. I don't deny these behaviors, but having recently finished
researching and writing a book on career advice, I have a different
explanation. The problem is not that we're intrinsically selfish or entitled.
It's that we've been misinformed.
Generation Y was raised during the period when "follow
your passion" became pervasive career advice. The chart below, generated
using Google's N-Gram Viewer, shows the occurrences of this phrase in printed
English over time.
Notice that the phrase begins its rise in the 1990s and
skyrockets in the 2000s: the period when Generation Y was in its formative
schooling years.
Why is this a problem? This simple phrase, "follow your
passion," turns out to be surprisingly pernicious. It's hard to argue, of
course, against the general idea that you should aim for a fulfilling working
life. But this phrase requires something more. The verb "follow"
implies that you start by identifying a passion and then match this preexisting
calling to a job. Because the passion precedes the job, it stands to reason
that you should love your work from the very first day.
It's this final implication that causes damage. When I
studied people who love what they do for a living, I found that in most cases
their passion developed slowly, often over unexpected and complicated paths.
It's rare, for example, to find someone who loves their career before they've
become very good at it — expertise generates many different engaging traits,
such as respect, impact, autonomy — and the process of becoming good can be
frustrating and take years.
The early stages of a fantastic career might not feel
fantastic at all, a reality that clashes with the fantasy world implied by the
advice to "follow your passion" — an alternate universe where there's
a perfect job waiting for you, one that you'll love right away once you
discover it. It shouldn't be surprising that members of Generation Y demand a
lot from their working life right away and are frequently disappointed about
what they experience instead.
The good news is that this explanation yields a clear
solution: we need a more nuanced conversation surrounding the quest for a
compelling career. We currently lack, for example, a good phrase for describing
those tough first years on a job where you grind away at building up skills
while being shoveled less-than-inspiring entry-level work. This tough
skill-building phase can provide the foundation for a wonderful career, but in
this common scenario the "follow your passion" dogma would tell you
that this work is not immediately enjoyable and therefore is not your passion.
We need a deeper way to discuss the value of this early period in a long
working life.
We also lack a sophisticated way to discuss the role of
serendipity in building a passionate pursuit. Steve Jobs, for example, in his
oft-cited Stanford Commencement address, told the crowd to not
"settle" for anything less than work they loved. Jobs clearly loved
building Apple, but as his biographers reveal, he stumbled into this career
path at a time when he was more concerned with issues of philosophy and Eastern
mysticism. This is a more complicated story than him simply following a clear
preexisting passion, but it's a story we need to tell more.
These are just two examples among many of the type of nuance
we could inject into our cultural conversation surrounding satisfying work — a
conversation that my generation, and those that follow us, need to hear. We're
ambitious and ready to work hard, but we need the right direction for investing
this energy. "Follow your passion" is an inspiring slogan, but its
reign as the cornerstone of modern American career advice needs to end.
We don't need slogans, we need information — concrete,
evidence-based observations about how people really end up loving what they do.
-Emily Taylor '08, Associate Director of MBA Education & Communication
Friday was the most successful UCLA Anderson Career Fair ever. Over 150+ recruiters came to campus and the Parker recruiting team put on an amazing event. A huge shoutout to Phil Han, Donna Robinson, Hannah Cowherd, and Wanda Hebert. This tweet by High Tech ACT coach Courtney Mayeda says it all:
