Wharton Executive MBA students have a lot on their plate with school, work and personal obligations. So why do they need MBA Exec Career Management Services?
“Everyone can benefit from learning how to manage their career over the course of their lifetime,” says Mary Gross, director of MBA Exec Career Management for Wharton’s East Coast program. “Students may have a great job now, but they want to continue to grow in their career, so we help them learn to identify next steps and the actions they need to take to get there.”
Steve Hernandez, director of MBA Exec Career Management at Wharton | San Francisco agrees, describing their role as career coaches. “Career management is not just about moving up the ladder or changing jobs, but rather the ability to determine goals whatever those may be and then to go after them.”
Along with providing a tailored, individualized approach to career advising, the career management team offers workshops to address some of the more tactical aspects of a career change. Whether it’s a program on networking, interviewing or resume writing, the sessions are specifically designed for EMBA students.
For example, a full-time MBA student with four years of experience can easily fit work experience onto one page of a resume. But for MBA Exec students who have been working for 15 or more years, this can be quite a challenge, not to mention that they are typically targeting a different audience of readers. As a result, the resume workshops are structured with these nuances in mind.
Likewise, EMBA students tend to be more senior leaders so their career issues are often different from full-time MBA students. Thus, a virtual seminar recently was offered addressing IQ vs. EQ (emotional intelligence) as well as a teleseminar on career reinvention, providing a framework and tips for approaching the job search process when changing careers.
In addition to workshops, the career management team plays a key role in connecting current students to the larger Wharton EMBA alumni network. Gross explains, “We usually know of alumni who have made similar career changes or alumni who are in the types of roles in which our students are interested so we help put them in touch with each other.”
And for students who are job-search eligible, they offer services such as an online resume book distributed to over 200 employers and access to recruiting activities.
“No matter what their immediate or long-term goals, we are their personal career advocates who can help with everything from organizing workshops, reviewing resumes, creating a career plan, and making alumni connections.” says Hernandez. “The individual will drive the change, but we can help create the roadmap to get them there.”