When the world economy signals there are few jobs, it takes discipline and motivation to be successful in a job search — or even to engage in one. The School of Management at Clark University gives its graduates the skills they need not only to succeed in their chosen careers, but also to commit to a job search that will reap positive outcomes, even in difficult times.

“Students from SOM find a variety of things helpful, including working with the Stevenish Career Management Center (SCMC), networking with alumni — either through our on-campus events or through LinkedIn — a previous internship that turned into an offer upon graduation, or even a faculty referral,” says Kelly Kochis, associate director of SCMC.

Sophia Dzikas ’19, MSF ’20, landed an internship at Unum before her senior year at Clark. As she worked on her master’s degree, she continued to apply to other programs, but accepted a position as a finance intern with Aetna. The company’s internship program feeds into its Finance Leadership Development Program (FDLP), a three-year, full-time rotational program. After her internship, Dzikas was offered a full-time position as an FDLP treasury analyst.

“SOM professors and advisers provided constant support and guidance on career tracks, interview advice, and networking,” she says. “My advice would be to start early and don’t rule out too many positions early in your career. SOM and Handshake helped me find my internship at Unum as well as on-campus teaching assistant positions during my fifth year.”

Yulun He, MSF ’20, knew that she wanted to find a job back home in China, a search that was made even more difficult by her hometown of Chengdu being in full quarantine. She took advantage of online interviews and training courses to familiarize herself with open positions in her field and is currently a technical analyst at Ming Qi Technology in Chengdu.

He was able to refine her search because of the assistance she received from the staff and faculty at SOM. “The staff at Stevenish gave me practical suggestions on improving my résumé and encouraged me to be confident,” she says. “My professors inspired me to find this job and enhanced my understanding of technical analysis.”

“The job search process was long,” says Gabrielle Totten, MBA ’20. “I researched a number of consulting firms, contacted recruiters, and leveraged my network. This included reaching out to family friends, ex-colleagues, and others.”

After attending alumni speaker events at Clark, Totten was referred by another Clark student and secured a position as a risk and financial advisory analyst at the New York office of Deloitte. Totten credits a lot of her success to the alumni speakers who came to SOM and the program curriculum.

“Classes in SOM are notably project-based and rooted in real-world problems. This allowed me to enhance skills that are important in consulting and gave me content to talk about in interviews,” she says. “The network I created through the School of Management was crucial to my attaining this job. Without the referral from my classmate, I would not have had the opportunity to showcase my skills throughout the interview process at such a large and prominent company.”

Read more graduate student success stories from Clark’s class of 2020:

• Preparation, networking, and alumni outreach key to securing employment for graduate students
• SPS graduates find career success
• IDCE grad students successful in tough job market