Kathie Decker knows the
University of Iowa MBA Career Services better than anyone else -- she has worked there for more than 15 years. Seven years ago, she started Iowa's Competitive Prep course, an intensive for-credit class that teaches students all they need to know to start the best careers possible. It has been a model for many other schools.
Like 43% of Iowa's MBA students, Decker is a lifelong Midwesterner. She studied psychology and business as an undergraduate at the University of Iowa, worked in corporate personnel for three years, then returned to Iowa for graduate work. A healthy 54% of MBA students come from abroad and though international students are successful in finding jobs in the Midwest, Decker sees visa trouble ahead.
The MBA program will get a new dean July 1. Decker expects new corporate connections and looks forward to using those to develop employer relationships over the next few years.
Decker spoke recently with
BusinessWeek intern
Kristin Dew. Here are edited excerpts of their conversation:
How successful are international students in the job search?
We've been successful in finding U.S. companies who need the talent and are willing to sponsor. When you're an individual who has been in an export-import trade experience for seven years in China and you come to Iowa, companies like HNI (
HNI
) and Cargill are happy to have access to those students.
I think companies in the Midwest have better luck getting the INS to approve their petitions, but I think the visa situation is going to get worse (see BusinessWeek.com, 5/16/06,
"Huddled Masses, Tricky Politics"). We will spend more time working to find U.S. sponsorship opportunities for international students.
What companies recruit most frequently on campus?
Our campus presence includes HNI, Best Buy (
BBY
), GE (
GE
), Goldman Sachs (
GS
), Deere & Company (
DE
), Northwest Airlines (
NWACQ
), Federal Home Loan Banks and Wells' Dairy. They may be a little more Midwestern flavor than you see other places. Because we're a small program, we're not as worried about companies recruiting on campus. We've presented our students to 156 different companies that don't recruit on campus at all. We're doing a lot more case competitions, so our students are getting out and visible.
Do these employers have any say on the curriculum?
Yes. Each academic department has a corporate advisory board and those people work together. We have a strategic-manager track within our...
See Full Version 
MBA Insider
Admissions Q&A
Printer-Friendly Version
