It is time to get started with the Willamette MBA Career Management and Professional Development program! This document contains your Career Management assignments for the summer. Contact Beth Ursin at eursin@willamette.edu if you have questions about the Career Management assignments.  Contact Judy O'Neill at joneill@willamette.edu if you have general questions.  We will be happy to help.

Career Management Assignments - Due July 27th

Your summer Career Management assignments are listed below. CareerLeader should be completed by July 6th. All of the other tasks should be completed by July 27th at 11:59 p.m. PDT These assignments take time to complete and they take time for reflection.  Plan ahead to be sure you meet the deadlines.

When you complete all of the Career Management assignments by July 27th, you will also qualify for early access to career management. This means you can start working one-on-one with the Atkinson School Career Management staff before school starts.  Early access dates are August 3rd through August 18th. To set up your early access appointment,  login to MBAFocus and select  Early Access Appointment’ with Maralynn or Beth from the Advising tab. If you’re having trouble scheduling, email Curtis at ceverett@willamette.edu or call Curtis, Beth, Maralynn or Tracy at 503.370.6167. Remember, you are only eligible for "Early Access" to Career Management if you have completed the assignments by the due dates shown below. 

Here is the list of your list of Career Management assignments.  A short description of each is available below the list.

Assignment

Due Date

CareerLeader  (already assigned in "Do List #1" that Judy sent you)

July 6

Input "Contact Information" &  "Detailed Profile Information" in Your MBAFocus Profile

July 27

Gather Information from Others (get started scheduling appointments now)

July 27

Do "Your Insights" Career Survey (uses CareerLeader and Info Gathered from Others)

July 27

Update Your Resume & Upload it to MBAFocus

July 27

Draft or Update a Cover Letter & Upload it to MBAFocus

July 27

Apply to Mentorship Program (optional)

July 27

Helpful Tips

Curtis Everetts, 2nd year MBA student and your Compass Week Coordinator, offers the following tips to help you complete the assignments: "The order in which the assignments are listed is important, because your ability to complete some of the assignments will rely on the information you gathered prior assignments. Start early so you can complete all of the assignments by the due date.  A good timeline for completion of all of these tasks might look like this:
Step 1: Complete CareerLeader by July 6th. 
Step 2: Login to MBAFocus and start completing your contact Information and detailed profile right away. Complete this by early July.
Step 3: Develop a list of people to talk with for your "Gather Information from Others" assignment by early July, and scheduled your appointments so they are all completed by July 20th.
Step 4: Complete "Your Insights" survey right after finish gathering information from others, so the information is fresh in your mind.
Step 5: Plan time to write your resume, cover letter, and mentorship application well before July 27th."


Assignment Descriptions

1. CareerLeader: This assignment was also listed in the first Do List you received from Judy.  It is due on July 6th. If you need help with the login directions for CareerLeader, email joneill@willamette.edu for access.  Completing CareerLeader will take about 30 minutes. There are no right or wrong answers. Just read the questions and answer honestly. When you have finished all three sections of CareerLeader, you will be able to see your results right away

2. Input "Contact Information" &  "Detailed Profile Information" Sections of Your MBAFocus Profile:  MBA Focus "provides advanced recruitment technology to the world’s top-ranked graduate business schools" and is the "single most comprehensive network for employers to access elite b-school students and alumni." The Willamette MBA has partnered with MBA Focus to help you manage your career process. MBA Focus is your Career Management HUB while you are at the Willamette University MBA and beyond. The first step to being able to utilize MBAFocus is to set up your profile. Be sure to set up your profile by July 27th.

  • Log into MBA Focus: You MBAFocus login is your Willamette username and password (your user name is the part of your Willamette email address before the @willamette.edu segment; your password is the password you used to set up your Willamette email account). After you log into MBA Focus you will land at the Candidate Registration Screen.  Here, you will see 3 "To Do" items: 1)  Enter Contact Information; 2) Enter Detailed Profile Information; and 3) Upload your Resume.
  • Complete "Contact Information." From the "Candidate Registration Screen," see "#1 Enter Contact Information" and click the "Go" button on the right side. This takes you to the contact profile information section. Complete all of the red starred fields. Red starred fields are required.  Some information has been pre-populated for you.  You may fill out the non-starred fields at your convenience.  When you are finished with the Contact Profile, go to the bottom of the page and click "save." Clicking "save" saves your information and takes you back to the "Candidate Registration Screen."
  • Complete "Detailed Profile Information." From the "Candidate Registration Screen," see "#2 Detailed Profile Information" and click the "Go" button on the right side. This takes you to the detailed profile information section. Complete all of the red starred fields. Red starred fields are required.  Some information has been pre-populated for you.  You may fill out the non-starred fields at your convenience.  When you are finished with the Detailed Profile, go to the bottom of the page and click "save." Clicking "save" saves your information and takes you back to the "Candidate Registration Screen"
3. Gather Information from Others: In this assignment, you will reach out to three people who you know and talk with them so you can learn from their experience.  Click here for assignment instructions and sample questions to use. Take notes about what you discussed and what you learned from your conversations. You will need this information for the “Your Insights” Assignment.

4. Complete the "Your Insights": Career Survey Assignmentt:  "Your Insights" assignment is based on the results you learned from doing CareerLeader and Gathering Information from Others. Your ability to complete this assignment will require previous completion of CareerLeader and "Gathering Information from Others."  Click here to access the "Your Insights" assignment. Be sure to click the submit button when you are finished with the assignment. Complete the "Your Insights" assignment by July 27th.

5. Update Your Resume and Upload to MBAFocus: It is time to start working on your resume and thinking about your accomplishments.  Click here for instructions and the Willamette University MBA Standard Template for your resume.  Upload your resume to MBAFocus by July 27th.

6. Draft or Update Your Cover Letter and Upload to MBAFocus:  It is time to update your cover letter to the Willamette University MBA format. If you’re applying to the mentorship program use the instructions provided on the cover letter page to draft a cover letter as part of your application to the program. If you’re not applying to the mentorship program, you may draft a cover letter for any job you’d like using the Willamette University MBA Standard Cover Letter Template.  

7. Mentorship Program Application (optional):  Be sure to complete this short application form and upload a cover letter to MBAFocus if you would like to have a mentor and participate in our mentorship program. The application and cover letter must be submitted by July 27th. 
Willamette University

Early Career and Career Change MBA

Salem Campus

Address
900 State Street
Salem Oregon 97301 U.S.A.
Phone
503-370-6167

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