Name: Jessica Robson
Hometown: Stockholm, Sweden / Newport Beach, CA
College/Major: Dartmouth College, Economics & Psychology
Pre-Business School: Digital Strategy, Starwood Hotels; CPG & Hospitality, Parthenon-EY
Summer Internship: HR Strategy Intern, Dimensional Fund Advisors
Full-Time: Senior Associate, PwC
____________________________________________________________________________________
PRE-ANDERSON
Childhood dream job and why: When I was younger, I wanted to be a professional track & field athlete.
Why business school? I wanted to switch into a specific function in the short-term, as well as gain the education and career skills necessary for potential career transitions possible in the future.
Why Anderson? I came to Anderson because I immediately felt at home with the students who are not only driven, but also genuinely happy and fully engaged on campus. Additionally, the culture is extremely collaborative and great for the career switcher. Being able to build a professional network that has strong ties on the West Coast was also a plus for me.
____________________________________________________________________________________
ANDERSON
Anderson Activities & Leadership:
President, Admissions Ambassador Corps
Parker TA
ACT Coach
Board Member, Anderson Affiliates
Favorite class and why? My favorite class was Urban Real Estate Investing with Paul Habibi. Although it is not directly related to my field, the material is applicable to any personal form of real estate investing and Habibi is a fascinating practitioner to learn from.
What is your Applied Management Research (AMR) Project? A local antiques retailer, Big Daddy’s Antiques, had recently entered the wedding market. My AMR group was tasked with optimizing their wedding & event strategy with the goal of increasing demand and profitability of their events in the future.
Favorite Anderson event/trip: Going to Challenge for Charity (C4C) weekend with 200 of my classmates each spring, has been one of my favorite Anderson traditions. C4C is a year-long fundraising competition between eight West Coast business schools that culminates in a sports weekend at Stanford, where the schools compete. This year, I played flag football, basketball and volleyball, which was a great way to bond with my classmates and meet students from other MBA programs.
Playing flag football with my Anderson classmates during C4C weekend
One week before graduation, completing an Anderson tradition of masking my name tent on the stairs leading up to campus
____________________________________________________________________________________
RECRUITING
What did you do the summer before business school to prep for fall recruiting? I completed a pre-MBA internship at an experiential marketing agency called Sparks in NYC, followed by some part-time work for a sports-tech startup in order to explore my initial interests in marketing and sports. I also did an extensive amount of research on other industries / functions I thought I might be interested in.
What helped you the most in your interview prep/career search? Informationals, informationals, informationals! There’s no better way to learn about a company, both in terms of understanding what they do and learning about the company culture. Determining whether you’re a fit for the company and whether the company is a fit for you is critical before starting the interview process.
How did you utilize Parker in your job search? I went to my assigned advisor Jessica Christopher countless times to discuss the companies I was targeting, to work on my resume and cover letter, and to conduct mock interviews. A great thing about Parker is that each advisor has a specialty and is open to talking to all students.
How many informationals did you conduct? 186 total - 84 during first year, 56 during my internship, 46 during second year. No joke, I went through my calendar and counted!
How did you land your internship? Before the final round interview, I talked to everyone at UCLA Anderson who had interned at DFA the previous year (across all functions, not just HR), I scheduled additional phone calls with other practitioners I had met. I did all the research I could. First, to fully understand the company’s investment philosophy and how it operates its general business, and second, to understand how the company is innovating on the people-front. I think being able to go in with questions that clearly showed I’d done my diligence was a big factor in landing the internship.
Describe your internship. As an HR Strategy intern at DFA, I worked with several different teams within the HR organization. Throughout the summer, I designed a standardized process for creating, maintaining and updating job descriptions over time, and also worked to introduce a new titling / promotional structure for three divisions of the company. The project was approved for implementation upon my departure and gave me high visibility with senior executives within the company, including the COO. I feel very fortunate for the opportunity to be a real change-agent during my time with DFA.
With fellow MBA interns at Dimensional
What will you be doing post-Anderson? During August and September, I will be serving as a Parker Teaching Fellow, working with the Class of 2019. In October, I will be joining PwC’s People & Organization practice as a Senior Associate. Within that practice, I will have the opportunity to advise technology and entertainment clients on human capital related issues – both here and in the Bay Area.
Comments