By: Alina Buzgar, News & Features Editor
On March 19, 2015, more than 60 T-Birds made the trip to Tempe to participate in the Spring Company Networking Night (CNN), a W.P. Carey event, where they had the opportunity to interact and network with companies, and apply to the open positions they currently offer.
“[This event] that traditionally highlights just-in-time internships and full-time job opportunities, was expanded for 2015, thanks to a collaborative effort between W.P. Carey’s Graduate Career Services team and the Thunderbird CMC,” says Mike Low, Director of Employer Relations at Thunderbird.
CNN 2015 surpassed organizers’ expectations as they had initially targeted 25 participating companies. The event grew to 36 represented companies and organizations and more than 175 participating students. Thunderbird was brilliantly represented by 60+ students looking for full-time and summer internship opportunities. To top it off, 10 T-Birds were invited to interviews on Friday (only 13 companies interviewed that day!). “More companies plan to interview on their own sites at a later date,” says Mike Low.
T-Birds had the opportunity to prepare for the event in the two sessions organized by the CMC, and they also had access to the company list of positions prior to the event. Students tell us that they enjoyed the event and appreciate the personalized support they received to prepare for it, but would find it very useful to be able to also apply in advance to the positions that are opened and available on the W.P. Carey career site. “The event was intense and it had a very different format from what we are used to. There were no booths which allowed us [students] to move easily from one company to the next. This format also allowed for a more informal interaction while keeping it professional,”says Rick Beitman (MBA ’15, U.S.).
CMC remarks that building on staff relationships built during the merger process, they are actively working with W.P. Carey to market events to Thunderbird recruiter lists and to enrolled students. Mike Low adds: “Just as Thunderbird had the lead role in hosting our Fall Career Fair, but invited W.P.C.’s participation, W.P. Carey Graduate Career Services had the lead role for the March 19-20 event. The difference post-merger is that we were able to achieve a much higher degree of collaboration in our planning and outreach. The W.P.C. team has been fantastic to work with, and we look forward to future joint efforts. We are actively cross-marketing events based on the value to recruiting employers and affected students. In February, Thunderbird CMC took the lead in expanding participation in the Walmart Case Competition to include students from several ASU schools. The Magna Power Train Case Competition taking place on April 17 will follow a similar model. Likewise, W.P. Carey and other ASU Career teams have invited T-Bird candidates to site visits at companies like Vanguard, Target and Ventana Medical Systems.”
Thunderbird CMC and W.P. Carey Graduate Career Services are now evaluating feedback from CNN, and while there are no concrete dates for another joint event of that scale, “We will continue to partner in ways that serve both more students and more employers,” assures Low.
Thank you to our CMC team Dodie Busch (Senior Director, Career Coaching and Development), Mike Low (Director, Employer Relations), Helen Wu (University Relations & Business School Talent Management), and Angelique Tatum (Associate Director, Career Advising and Education) for all their continued support and guidance.