MBA Summer Workshop Series prepares students for recruitment season

The MBA Association and Business Career Services collaborated on a Summer Workshop Series for first-year MBA students before they started classes. As companies move up their recruitment timelines each year, the series prepped students with advice and resources before the fall semester.  

“The main goal is to prepare the students as best as possible to be prepped and ready for the recruitment season that they were about to enter,” MBA Association president Nate Rhondeau said (MBA ‘27).

The series had four virtual sessions:

• Identification of Professional Interest
• Building a Company List and Resume Walk
• Meet the Alumni
• Preparing for National Black 

More than eighty percent of the MBA first-year students attended these sessions. These students received resume reviews, interview tips, interview question frameworks and the opportunity to speak with recent program graduates across different industries. 

The Meet the Alumni session was split into breakout rooms with representatives from Bain & Co., JPMorganChase, NextEra Energy, Delta’s FLDP program and Procter & Gamble; the session encouraged students to explore an industry of interest while informally chatting with a recent program graduate. 

“My breakout focused on my experience in the MBA program and the transition from being a student to starting my career at JPMorganChase after graduation,” Charity Davis (MBA ‘25), CAP Senior Associate at JPMorganChase, said. “I wanted it to feel candid and practical and give students a realistic perspective on what recruiting and the first few years after an MBA can look like.” 

Davis, like many alumni, believes in the value of Warrington alumni sharing their experiences and helping students navigate their professional decisions. Alumni remember what it was like to be MBA students and are willing and happy to pay that support forward, she said. 

“I would encourage students to start building those relationships before they feel like they ‘need’ something,” Davis said. “Reach out to alumni whose careers genuinely interest you, ask thoughtful and specific questions and use those conversations to learn rather than treating every interaction as a recruiting opportunity. People are very willing to help when the outreach feels genuine.” 

The MBA Association and the Warrington College of Business host several opportunities for MBA students to engage and build rapport with alumni, including the MBA showcase and homecoming tailgate. 

“Say yes,” Rhondeau said. “You’re going to be busy. It’s going to be hard to make time for some of these things, but you only have two years in the MBA program, and then it’s back to the real world; take advantage to meet as many people as possible.”