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Bus Tour, Anyone? It’s All Part of Building Career Connections

Nearly a dozen tours were organized by the NC State Jenkins MBA Career Resources staff in response to student requests. “Our MBA students said they wanted to go to the company sites to learn more about them, so that they could better discern which would be a good fit for their career goals,” said Linda Taylor, director of career resources for the college.

That ‘fit’ has always been an important part of the recruiting process, she said. “The more an individual understands a company’s operations and culture before accepting a position, the more likely they are to stay on once hired. And because hiring and training staff is a major expense for employers, companies are also very interested in securing the best fit as well,” Taylor said.

“In today’s down economy, these onsite visits have become an important additional way to bring our students and recruiters together, as companies have cut back on their recruiting visits to campuses. This is something that campus career staff are seeing nationwide,” she said.

Alumni are an important part of helping to make the company-student connection. A visit to Novozymes in Franklinton, N.C., was arranged by Jacob Traverse, a December 2006 graduate of the NC State Jenkins MBA program. He was in the first group of MBAs to complete the program’s biosciences management concentration and a founding officer of the program’s BioSciences Management Club. Many of the students visiting the company in February are also in that concentration. Participants in this visit donned sterile gowns and caps, as shown in the photo above, for a tour of the Novozymes facilities.

The college’s career resources staff are already making plans for another round of tours this fall.