Career

4:00 am. It was the morning of Friday, January 25, 2008 and I had no classes that day. On this particular day though, I had to get up earlier than I ever did for class. The Marketing Association was taking us on a company visit to DuPont, which was located three and a half hours away in Wilmington, Delaware. I was reluctant to get up in the morning, but I also didn’t want to pass up a good experience.

Now I must admit that I always thought of myself as a B2C person and didn’t think I would be going into B2B. DuPont wasn’t one of my target companies for a summer internship, but I wanted to go for the learning experience. However, after the day was over, I was really impressed by the people, program and company, and found myself wanting to work there.

There were two things that really impressed me that day. The first was having lunch with some of the DuPont employees. An employee was assigned to each table, so we were able to have informal discussions and learn about the company as we ate our lunch. They shared their insight, and told us of some marketing experiences that DuPont had to go through. This was when I started to learn that B2B marketing was not very different from B2C marketing. And the fact that the employees were very personable and approachable made the lunch more enjoyable.

What really sold me on the program, though, was a case study we participated on during the afternoon. They provided us with a real situation and gave us one hour to develop the marketing plan. This was right down my alley and it got my marketing spirit going! It might have been the fact that it was based on a real life case that energized me and got me motivated to develop a good marketing plan. I felt like I really got to implement the marketing concepts we learned in class. In the end, each team took turns presenting their plans, then the moderator gave us comments and summarized the case. Being able to apply concepts to real life helped me get a better understanding of marketing.

After the company visit was over, we took another three and a half hour ride back to State College. That night, I got back to my apartment at around 11 pm. And even though I was tired, I made sure that I applied for the DuPont summer internship before going to bed.

Kat Keeratiprapa

MBA Class of 2009

Originally from Thailand, Kat attained her Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration there and has over three years working experience in the advertising industry, where she found her passion for brand management. At Smeal, Kat plans to focus on Product & Market Development and Strategic Leadership.

The Academic and Career Exploration Panel for Supply Chain Management was held on Nov 9. At the outset, Dr. Robert Novack, Associate Professor of Supply Chain and Information Systems, explained how the Supply Chain Portfolio was designed around the concepts of the SCOR model – Plan, Make, Source, Deliver and Return. As a part of the portfolio students also get to work on a Capstone project with companies during the Career Immersion week. Students having a strong interest in Operations can opt to pursue additional courses towards attaining the Master of Manufacturing Management (MMM) degree along with the MBA curriculum.

Later in the event, panelists from Dell, IBM Business Consulting Services, Praxair, ICG Commerce and Mars Inc. shared their post business school experiences in the industry. Some of the relevant topics discussed were – minor portfolios relevant with the Supply Chain major, interview facing tips, skill sets that interviewers are looking for. The panelists also had separate small group sessions with students interested to discuss about the companies in more detail. The daylong event was a great success as it provided students with practitioner perspectives about career options in the field as well as skill sets necessary for professional success.

-Rohit Gurtu, MBA Class of 2009

Officer, MBA Supply Chain Management Association

Prior to Smeal, Rohit has worked for more than 15 years in the automotive industry. He has undertaken various roles in manufacturing, purchasing, and procurement with Maruti Suzuki, Honda Siel Cars, Delphi Automotive Systems, and Saud Bahwan Automotive, LLC.

The past week saw me through a hectic 2nd week of MOD II. As promised, we are being served a whole lot of quantitative heavy courses during this seven-week Module. Just as many of us first years were getting concerned that we were not devoting much time into researching the companies and industries that we were trying to target for our internships, the MBAA’s Corporate and Alumni Affairs office along with Smeal’s Career Services team organizes the 1st Company Explo’ 2007. The 2nd year MBA students volunteered to set up career booths representing the companies where they had spent their summer internships earlier this year. They were there to field our questions – the insider’s view of organizational cultures, specific projects that they had worked on, the selection process for the internship positions, the internships themselves and much more. Representations included among many others – Dell, Ford Motor Company, Apple, Target, GE, Pfizer, GE, Dupont, Air Products and Chemicals, JPMorgan Chase, Target and PGA Tour.

The event helped me understand the job profiles for the summer internships that were offered at the companies that I am targeting. Students from both years’ classes were actively involved in this event. I got some great insights from Andy Pezalla (MBA Class of 2008) on supply chain management in the retail industry in the context of his internship at a major US retail chain’s corporate office. The recommendations that he had provided to the company through his project were being implemented and were visible in the advertising strategy on their website. Smeal MBA candidates were making a strong difference during their internships!

Similar conversations with others who had interned in various functions of Supply Chain Management at Ford, Apple and Dell provided me with valuable inputs too. A comprehensive project report on the high market potential of the healthcare services (especially rural) industry in India. Medical equipment and healthcare services were completely outside my scope of interest in this event. What started as an aside into the booth due to its attention-grabbing presentation on India, eventually transformed into a long conversation with Alessandro Gubbini (MBA Class of 2008), who had interned at Siemens, India earlier this summer. It was interesting to observe the value added to the company due to Alessandro’s fresh perspective (as a non-Indian) and diligent research on the Indian health services market for the feasibility of Siemens’ new products in the area of medical equipment and health care services.

Thus, the week ended with great takeaways on some of my target companies and the SCM industry in general. In spite of the heavy workload being sent our way over our current MOD, the week ended on an energetic note, thanks to the efforts of the MBAA Corporate and Alumni Relations office, Smeal Career Services and the host of volunteers from the Classes of 2008 and 2009!

-Johny Paul

Hailing from India, Johny had been working as a Software Designer over the past nine years, spending equal amount of time with Hewlett-Packard Co., India and earlier to that with PricewatershouseCoopers, India. He has a Bachelors Degree in Engineering from IIT Kharagpur, India. At Smeal, he intends to pursue the Supply Chain Management and Strategic Leadership Portfolios.

The SCMA sponsored the annual Fall Career Fair held on 17th September. Forty-Eight companies participated in the event, which was open to graduate students and undergraduate students as well. Hiring managers from the top Supply-Chain companies in virtually every sector held on-campus interviews, and many of them invited students to their facilities for on-site interviews. The Supply Chain Career Fair remains among the premier recruiting events for supply chain practitioners and has continued to grow.

-Preston Charles, MBA Class of 2008

Preston Charles is a second year MBA student majoring in Supply Chain Management and Strategic Leadership. He serves as the acting office manager for Office of Diversity Enhancement. He is also the acting Vice President of Student Affairs for the Supply Chain Management Association.

VP Student Affairs, MBA Supply Chain Management Association