Articles by Supply Chain Association

Dr. Harrison speaks with the Introductory Lunch Participants.

Early in September, SCMA hosted the first of its kind Supply Chain Introductory Luncheon which provided an opportunity for the first years to get an answer to all their queries regarding Supply Chain Management and for the second years to share their experiences with regard to the industrial relevance of Supply chain concepts and fundamentals, while interacting with senior Supply chain faculty members.  Dr. Thomas kicked off the luncheon with a description and explanation of what a supply chain looks like.  He was followed by Dr. Harrison who described career prospects in the field of Supply Chain Management.  Dr. Novack concluded the program with a detailed description of Supply Chain program at Penn State including reference to the Center for Supply Chain Research, which proved to be a hot topic of interest among the students.  The luncheon was attended by around 50 students.

Brian Ferguson from Sears presents to the SCMA

In mid-September, SCMA conducted a Sears roundtable chaired by Brian Ferguson, VP (Inventory Management Systems & Support) with Sears Holdings Corporation. This afforded an excellent opportunity for the first year students, very early into the Program, to get an insight into the company which is one of the biggest recruiters for Smeal MBAs and to leave a favorable impression on their lead recruiter. The agenda for this roundtable consisted of an overview of the company and elaboration of the opportunities available as well as the skill sets required to be successful in this field. More than 30 students turned up for this event.

Stephanie Bond and Rama Murugan run the grill.

This was followed by the stupendous success of Dell sponsored tailgate on September 26. In spite of the inclement weather, there was a large turnout of current students as well as alumni. The big game against our recent nemesis provided the ideal setting for SCMA to leave a favorable impression with our sponsor company who seemed extremely pleased with SCMA’s organization and conduct of the tailgate.

It was a perfect confluence of career paths! On April 17^th and 18^th, the Supply Chain Management Association (SCMA) teamed up with the Consulting Focus Group (CFG) to host senior consultants with the Strategy and Operations (S&O) practice of Deloitte Consulting. Needless to say, we also had the continuous support from the Smeal Career Services team, without whose help this event would not have taken place. The events scheduled over the two days included one-on-one slots for mock-interviewing with the consultants, a company information session and a company-sponsored happy hour on Friday evening.

I had signed up for a one-on-one interview slot on Thursday. I was able to discuss about my fit with the company and also better understand what the company looked for among students who were interested in pursuing a career in Operations consulting. Each consulting firm has its unique “flavor”, if you may, and Deloitte’s culture came across as an extremely hard-working/competitive one and yet a social cohesiveness was also apparent. Even more interesting was their candidness in sharing their personal career paths through the firm. Later that day, the group of around 20 students attended a brief presentation setup by the executives. We students had varied expectations including among others – knowing more about the firm’s culture, getting deeper insights into the life of the “ever-travelling” management consultant, the opportunities for Operations consulting experiences and even just checking out all the options that the firm had to offer for us Smeal MBAs. The session was a highly interactive one and to which students had great positive feedback. A more informal gathering of a smaller group followed that evening and we got a chance to meet with the same executives in a casual setting. The incidents from their long consulting careers that flowed out were truly interesting and even helped us connect with them at a more personal level.

Deloitte Consulting greatly appealed to both the SCMA and the CFG memberships. With promises to come back during Fall 2008 for full-time recruiting and during the CSCR-sponsored Fall Supply Chain Career Fair at Smeal, the firm was very enthusiastic about Smeal MBAs. Additionally, the executives expressed their willingness to help develop better interviewing skills through further mock-interview sessions. I personally, and I am sure most of us Supply Chain enthusiasts do eagerly wait for an opportunity to meet with this firm yet again during Fall 2008.

Johny Paul

MBA Class of 2009

Johny is a first year MBA student who plans to concentrate in Supply Chain Management and Corporate Finance. He had been developing Decision Support Systems for global supply chains at several large organizations for nine years prior to joining the Smeal MBA program.

Dressed to impress wearing my slickest suit and tie, I embarked upon my first career fair as a Smeal MBA student.  While many career fairs require a lengthy drive to Washington or New York, this supply chain career fair was conveniently located on the first floor of the business building where I attend class.   Heavily armed with an arsenal of networking weapons including company research, my personalized selling pitch, and a slew of resumes, I ventured out into the jungle of high profile companies.  In my first two hours alone, I had already spoken with prestigious representatives and alumni from Dell, Target, Staples, Wal-Mart, Home Depot, and Johnson & Johnson.  By the end of the career fair, which lasted a total of two days and hosted over eighty companies, I had successfully made several promising contacts while scheduling two on campus interviews for the following afternoon.  For those of you who decide to join our family here at Smeal, please keep in mind that it is never too early to start the internship process (I’ve only been a part of the program for a grand total of eight weeks).

-Dave Hoover
MBA Class of 2010

Dave Hoover is a 1st year MBA student focusing primarily on Supply Chain Management.  Before coming to Penn State, he spent two years as an Operations Supervisor at distribution center catering to 3M products.  Despite fierce opposition, he strongly maintains that the Pittsburgh Steelers are the best football team in the history of time.