Soon after receiving my admissions letter for the Broad College Full-Time MBA program at Michigan State University, the Russell Palmer Career Management Center started reaching out with onboarding assignments to get the incoming MBA class ready for the quickly approaching job search. My job-hunting journey started right after I received my admissions letter.
Neha Aggarwal, first-year MBA student
The onboarding pre-MBA program was appropriately equipped to train admitted students for resume development and networking. During this time, I was introduced to VMock, which is a diversified platform capable of refining resumes through more than 10 iterations along with detailed feedback and correction points. In addition to this, I had access to a one-on-one online session with the career management team to help me improve my resume.
At this time, I was exhilarated about the start of my journey within the Broad MBA. These onboarding assignments were truly beneficial to me and prepared me for the rigorous program that would be starting in the fall. Being an international student, I was nervous about handling the career search and program workload on top of all that goes into moving to a new country. Luckily, the Broad MBA and Palmer Center team made this a smooth transition with all their support.
After starting the MBA program in the fall, I had a career management course as a part of the academic curriculum that was perfectly structured to help me improve my resume, cover letter and LinkedIn profile. This course played a crucial role in developing my understanding of job applications, networking strategies, elevator pitches, interview techniques and much more. The best part was being assigned a peer coach who could significantly improve my communication skills through virtual and in-person mock interviews. In addition, The 2-Hour Job Search by Steve Dalton was a great guide that helped me build a target list of companies using the LAMP (List Alumni Motivation Posting) method.
I was also introduced to the job application platform Handshake, which has an extensive list of job opportunities, events and employers’ contacts. This resource made the job application process a piece of cake. With multiple networking events, formal and informal sessions with alumni and employers, concentration-specific career fairs and tech trek sessions, I left no stone unturned in exploring internship opportunities.
The virtual career fair gave me an excellent opportunity to connect one-on-one with employers for 10-minute sessions. The chance to talk with multiple recruiters in a short span has improved my understanding of the American job market and internship opportunities.
The Broad College also has an excellent communication platform called Broad Connect, which enhanced my networking opportunities with college alumni. There were other valuable tools like Twenty20, an experience-sharing platform that assisted peers through collaborative efforts to elaborate on the information about employers and recruitment processes. On top of that, professors at Broad are very kind, always willing to extend support for any career-related issues and can be easily approached through email or an online appointment.
Altogether, the Palmer Center is a one-stop solution specifically designed to assist Broad MBA (and undergraduate) students in honing their job-search skills, identifying and working toward career goals, finding suitable careers, getting referrals to employers and boosting networking skills. I am immensely contented to be a part of the Broad community and have access to all the tools that the Palmer Center provides.
