Career Services from Day One

Mari Davis is currently a full-time MBA candidate at the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota.

I was 1,000 miles from Minneapolis and four months from starting the Carlson Full-Time MBA Program. But there I was, Skyping with a career coach from the Carlson School of Management’s Graduate Business Career Center (GBCC), going over my resume.

By the time I arrived in Minneapolis late last summer for orientation, I had a polished resume and several contacts (recommended by my career coach) to begin scheduling coffee chats.

As orientation and the school year began, I had several opportunities to attend GBCC workshops on a variety of topics, from preparing for conferences and networking opportunities to understanding different career paths and nailing interviews. I also took advantage of all the one-on-one coaching appointments I could in order to solidify my S.T.A.R. stories (stories formatted specifically for answering behavioral interview questions), do mock interviews, and get advice on my decisions regarding interviews and internship offers.

The GBCC also helped me get an up-close look at my intended field, technology, with a career trek to the Bay Area. Our Carlson School group met with companies like Adobe, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Intuit, allowing us to get an inside look and hear from employees about their experiences—something I don’t think I would have been able to do without the help of our career center.

Overall, the GBCC has been instrumental in my growth as an MBA student, and I am so thankful for its staff members’ genuine passion in helping students find career opportunities that align with their interests.


Mari Davis is currently a full-time MBA candidate at the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota. She’ll be graduating in May 2018 and hopes to pursue a career in technology, specifically product marketing or management.

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