On Friday, Sept. 20, many Willamette MBA students participated in the Fall 2019 Career Close-up in Portland, OR, just one hour away from the Salem campus and one block away from the Portland campus. The Career Close-up events serve as great opportunities for MBA students from both the full-time and part-time programs to network with hiring managers--many of whom are Willamette MBA alumni--looking to meet potential new hires.
The event began at 9:00 A.M. but was well worth waking up early in the morning as all the hiring managers and current employees had very helpful and useful insights about their companies and advice about job and internship search.
The event was hosted in the Ecotrust Building. Executive Director Jeremy Barnicle stopped by to greet us on behalf of Ecotrust. Ecotrust “creates and accelerates triple-bottom-line (social, environmental, and financial) innovations” and their goal is “to foster a natural model of development that creates more resilient communities, economies, and ecosystems here and around the world.”
We talked in small group settings with hiring managers and employees and signed up for one-on-one interviews to gain in-depth knowledge about the companies. The organizations that attended the event included non-profits such as United Way, public sector organizations such as Multnomah County Health Department, and private sector organizations such as Tektronix and New York Life.
This Career Close-up was a great opportunity for us to practice interviewing with real employers and apply for internships or jobs to these organizations. One of the advantages of attending this event was that students were able to get a feel for company culture and what the different organizations are looking for “fit” in potential hires. Many of us submitted resumes and exchanged contact information for both internship and job openings.