Students and Alumni Learn the Importance of Networking in the Job Search

The Part-time MBA Association invited all MBA students, alumni, faculty, and administration to attend "Secrets to C-Level: Leveraging Business Contacts & the Smith Community to Launch Your Career into the Executive Stratosphere on Oct. 28, 2007. The event, held in the Colony Ballroom of the Stamp Student Union, featured the executive vice president and chief information officer from Fannie Mae, Rahul N. Merchant. Merchant has held these positions since November 2006. Previous to working at Fannie Mae, he was the head of technology and head of global business technology for Merrill Lynch & Co. Merchant spoke to participants about his own experiences and success in using networking to reach a c-level position.

Participants really enjoyed Merchants advice and valued what he had to say. Part-time MBA student Senthil Venkatachalam said, An engaging and lively speaker, Mr. Merchant kept the attention of the audience and used some great (and often humorous) examples from his career to drive the point that networking is an essential ingredient to reaching the C-level. Mr. Merchant was very accessible after the event, taking the time to answer any and all questions.

The event also gave current students and alumni an opportunity to network over brunch, and put into practice some of the advice that Merchant had provided them with. I found this to be a great chance to get started networking with alumni and students from other campuses, classes and cohorts, commented part-time MBA student Don Barber.

In addition to getting the opportunity to network and hear from an accomplished speaker participants were able to participate in three raffles. The prizes that were awarded were lunch with Tim Dennis, director of licensing and accessories at Under Armour Performance, lunch or dinner with Abinash Tiwari, an investment banker with Bank of America in NYC, and a mock case interview via phone with Curtis Lightburn, Boston Consulting Group.

The event was a success for both the Part-time MBAA and the participants that walked away with an expanded knowledge base and business cards in hand. Barber thought the event was very beneficial, Overall I'm very impressed with how well this event was organized, the speaker, and the other attendees. I look forward to the next one.

▓ Meena Shah and Lettie Goodridge, MBA Candidates