UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. –– Jason Plubell (junior – finance) is a high-achieving student to say the least.
He was president of the Penn State DuBois student government, a member of the Penn State Dubois Business Society, worked as a part-time loan servicer, worked for the Penn State DuBois marketing department and more.
Students from Commonwealth Campuses across the state put in the work. Some load up their schedule with 20 or more credits. They search for internships and jobs. And, some have to prepare to change locations in the middle of their college education.
That’s where Alexandra Stossel and Smeal’s Business Career Center (BCC) have stepped in.
Stossel, the BCC’s change of campus coordinator, and Ashley Rippey, executive director of BCC, have continued the tradition of reaching out to Commonwealth Campuses to try to determine how they might help those student populations with career services.
And, the result is a myriad of services and resources available for change-of-campus students.
BA 297
Plubell and Allison Meko (senior – marketing) have two things in common. They did their first two years of college at Penn State DuBois before transitioning to Penn State University Park. And, they took the BA 297 course.
Stossel teaches the one-credit course to help students get the career resources they need.
In the class, they conduct mock interviews, review their resumes and explore the career resources of the college.
Meko’s impression of the BA 297 curriculum was so positive she offers advice to other 2+2 students.
“Take 297 because it's going prepare you for transitioning here with career-related resources that otherwise you might not realize you need at the time,” she said.
Career coaching
When it comes to getting personalized support, students can schedule career coaching meetings on the Nittany Lion Careers portal.
Students often do not realize that these meetings can be used for whatever they want. They can spend their time reviewing their resume or creating their cover letter. But, they can also talk about career opportunities, look for more resources or just ask for advice.
“I've used [Alexandra] nearly every semester for resume reviews. And, this last semester, we chatted about career goals and where I wanted to go with an internship, which was massive,” Plubell said.
Meko said it was helpful to access a career professional when comparing options.
“She's definitely helped me look at some pros and cons of those types of things,” Meko said.
Along with Stossel, Tina Rose, Sara Craig, Thompson Harner, Brenda Fabian, Ashley Rippey and Steven Ruhf provide general career help.
Clubs, clubs and clubs
Raj Das (senior – risk management) attended Penn State Altoona for two years.
Das has had multiple internships, ranging from a lending intern at Embassy National Bank, to a wealth management intern at Morgan Stanley, to a private equity intern at Kennedy Street Capital Partners.
While he has received resume review help and attended the Smeal career fairs, he found that getting involved was an excellent way to gain the skills needed for the workforce and to integrate as a 2+2 student.
Hungry for club opportunities, he immediately joined the Phi Beta Lambda business fraternity.
He then co-founded the Penn State Wealth Management Association.
To give students experience with account management, the student organization created mock clients and help them with their finance needs. They then put the numbers into a Monte Carlo simulation to see the probability of success. Their success has gained them the corporate partners of Morgan Stanley and Equitable Advisors.
In the next year, they hope to extend their club to the Commonwealth Campuses. With help from Smeal, they want to share the wealth.
Landing the job
Alicia Bryan (senior – marketing) will be working for WebFX after she graduates in the spring. She points directly to Business Career Center services in helping create that opportunity.
“I would definitely say Smeal had a role in my journey with WebFX because my junior year I applied for an internship with them, and I did get rejected that first time,” she said.
“I was like, ‘OK, so I need to do some work to fix what's wrong.’ Maybe get involved in some clubs and beef up my resume just a little bit more. And, the second time around I went through like five rounds of interviews with them, and I got that job!”
Meko also found Smeal had a huge role in landing her full-time position at WebFX.
“It was definitely Smeal-driven,” she said.
She shared she got the opportunity to learn about and speak to the company through class visits and Smeal events in the atrium, and it “is how I really got connected to them and one of their recruiters. They definitely helped me get to that point.”
And, this upcoming summer, Plubell has an internship with Regions Bank in Charlotte.
The transition
Penn State DuBois campus has fewer than 400 students, so the transition to the University Park campus with its 49,000 students can be shocking.
“It was definitely an exciting time, but it was an overwhelming time, because DuBois is one of the smallest Commonwealth Campuses,” Bryan said. “The number in class sizes alone was kind of intimidating. But, it was a necessary change. I feel like I wouldn't have developed professionally the way I could have here.”
Das recommended having a “game plan.”
"Smeal gives you all the resources you need to succeed and do phenomenally well. But it's a matter of understanding how to use that," he said.
One of those resources is a tab on the website for change-of-campus resources with a to-do list for when students step on campus for the first time.
“I was more overwhelmed and scared than I should have been,” Meko said, "but the BCC resources helped quell those feelings."
But, she shared the necessity of finding these resources.
“Even though, as students, our plates are full with so much stuff, and it can feel like a bit of a burden to go the extra step to figure these things out, it's definitely worth it, because they're there to help and they've definitely helped me,” she said. “Just take advantage of the resources you have.”