Employers
Participating in Breakout Sessions
These breakout sessions are designed to provide our graduate business students with industry or functional knowledge of the topic you are speaking on. Discussion topics can include an introduction into specific careers related to an industry and/or function, a “state of the industry today” discussion, what it takes to be successful in a specific field or industry, and specific examples of how you have achieved success in your career up to this point. Our goal of these sessions is to equip our students with the core knowledge, tips, and insights about industries and/or career functions that are of interest to them. A Business Career Services team member or Student Ambassador will be facilitating the Q&A session throughout your time in this session.
The structure of your discussion should be open-ended and encourage back and forth Q&A between yourself and the students. We highly encourage our students to ask questions and become involved in the discussion so that it is an interactive session for everyone involved. We ask that you encourage them as well during your session to be interactive within the discussion. The flow of this session and topics/ideas for discussion can include:
- Introduce yourself to the students, what company you work for, what do you do, how you started your career (a brief overview of your biography).
- Communicate the goals and structure of the session and encourage participation of the students through Q&A.
- Initiate discussion and debate around your topic for discussion. Below are a few ideas that can be used to initiate dialogue between yourself and the students in attendance. Please feel free to deviate from the topics below at any time during your conversation, as we encourage you to instill your own thoughts, ideas, and knowledge into these discussions as well.
Industry Topics for Discussion
- “State of the Industry” you are discussing
- Insights into careers within your industry
- What it takes to be successful in your industry
- What can students do today in hopes of landing a job within their industry of interest?
Career Function Topics for Discussion
- Insights into the different careers that may make up the core function you are discussing
- Typical career paths for executives within the core function you are discussing; typical career paths of those executives at your specific company (as an example)
- What does it take to be successful in the function you are discussing?
- What can students do today in hopes of landing a job within their functional area of interest?