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Capstone MBA course focuses on professional performance standards
4:23 p.m., Dec. 8, 2006--With competition fierce for jobs in the business world, even students graduating from UD with a master of business administration (MBA) degree could use an edge. So, the Alfred Lerner College of Business and Economics has given its MBA program more muscle. A new course, “Professional Performance Standards,” offered for the first time this fall, is designed to give MBA students real-world advice from alumni, faculty and staff on how to outshine the competition when applying for a job. The class is offered on a pass/fail basis. The course details the nuts and bolts of job seeking and is taught by faculty and staff in the Lerner College as well as from the departments of Communications, Fashion and Apparel Studies and Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional Management, and from UD's Bank of America Career Services Center. Those who developed the new course said its most distinctive and potentially beneficial aspect is that University alumni who are in hiring positions within their companies or organizations have volunteered to come into the classroom to evaluate the students' mock interviews, résumés, cover letters and presentations and to give students the benefit of their observations. At a planning session in Lerner Hall before the start of the semester, faculty, staff and alumni talked about how to refine the course to meet the specific needs of UD students and their prospective employers. “If the information in a résumé and at an interview aren't pertinent to what kind of job the student is interviewing for, employers lose interest,” Rodney Alexander, EG '92, BE' 00M, who works for General Electric Lighting, said at the planning meeting. He said he wants to know precisely what kind of job a person is looking for and how his or her skills match that job. Dawn Philo, BE '91, '95M, employed by Chase Card Services, suggested that students learn how to research the company and, if possible, even the interviewer. “Do a checklist before the interview; do your homework,” Philo said. “Know who you are interviewing for. Know the company's style.” She also suggested taping some purposely bad interviews to show students common mistakes. Bob Barker, director of the MBA program, created the course and teaches it along with MBA program managers Paul Rollison and Amy Estey, interdisciplinary faculty and Career Services Center staff. “The skills students develop in this course are useful in their personal and professional lives,” Barker said. “The alumni play a key role in that they will help students understand what it's really like out there.” Along with the hardware of job hunting--résumés, presentations, cover letters, correspondence, business reports, e-mail and voice mail, business cards and “wardrobe engineering”--come the intangibles, such as image enhancement, dining and professional etiquette, networking and techniques for handling a job offer or multiple offers. A key component of the course is the mock job interview, with questions that reflect those typically asked at a real-world interview. Interviews are taped at the beginning, middle and end of the course to assess student progress. With the students' permission, selected interviews are shown in class and critiqued by the students themselves, their classmates, faculty and alumni, all of whom offer both praise and suggestions for improvement. Midway through the course, the class spent its Oct. 20 session critiquing a set of taped interviews. Comments ranged from how cogent, calm and poised one job seeker was to how another student's good eye contact, relaxed interpersonal style and positive, nonverbal cues gave the interviewer a feeling of genuineness, sincerity and confidence. Behavior that drew criticism included failing to bring a résumé to the interview, never looking the interviewer in the eye, speaking too softly, frequently saying “um,” repeating themselves, either over-elaborating or not being concise enough in answering questions and assuming a posture, such as leaning back in the chair, that seemed to show a lack of interest. Student Brian Exelbierd said the course already had helped him change the way he was doing things, including downsizing his résumé. “I had a two-and-a-half-page résumé when I began this course,” he said. “I don't anymore. It's excellent preparation for the Corporate Associates [internship] Program and an opportunity to network with alumni.” Almost two-thirds of those taking the course are international students. Igor Shkodin, from Russia, said he hadn't yet looked for a job in his field in the United States. “It's good to understand the job environment and to know what to expect when you go for an interview,” he said. “All students who want an internship and who are new to this culture should take this course to get to know, from employers, what they are looking for,” Avinash Bhandari, who came to UD from India, said. Twinkle Madan, also from India, said she took the course because she hasn't had much experience being interviewed and wanted to be prepared when she tries for a corporate internship. “I needed this exposure,” she said. “The entire course was helpful, from working with alumni to table manners.” Article by Barbara Garrison |
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