Career Building in the Heartland

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 management and organizations department that we made in response to employers. And as our students are out on internships, we ask their supervisors to give us feedback.

What's the starting salary and placement percentage?
We run a base salary average of $70,000 to $75,000, but I'm seeing a trend towards pay-for-performance. (see BusinessWeek.com, 5/1/2006, "No Hair Shirts, But Still..."). We're seeing our median signing bonuses still running about $10,000. It's not uncommon to be somewhere 92 to 98% three months out. But when you're working with 65 students, one student is a couple of percentage points.

Which characteristics make students successful when they're getting out into the job market?
The student who has a lot of intellectual curiosity will do well. Also, people who are able to talk to anybody about anything at any time do well. In some cases you have to have the sincere interest and some charm.

What are some of the most common mistakes you see your students making during a job search?
Some are focusing too much on their class work and focusing too much on the Internet as a way to apply for jobs. Some of our international students struggle with the idea of networking.

Are there international networking opportunities?
We have an exchange program with Goethe Institute in Frankfurt and have participated in the Global Employment Conference for years. Our Hong Kong program is building alumni relationships with businesses. We've been studying and visiting companies in London. We get people out into real business projects, too.

What are some of the most common industries and companies for student internships?
We've had a longstanding relationship with GE, Best Buy and HNI. We work with Principal Financial Group (PFG ), ConAgra (CAG ) , Kraft (KFT ) and Kimberly-Clark (KMB ). Goldman Sachs has been recruiting on campus, so we've started a new relationship there.

Do you have any co-curricular programs?
We have a number of joint degrees that are highly recognized, like our JD and our Masters in Health Administration program. We have a joint program with medicine and the Masters of Library Science program, too.

How do student organizations play into the career trajectory?
We really encourage students to build their leadership skills and so the student organizations play a major role in that as well, as they also focus on having a lot of corporate and alumni interaction. We have an MBA association and clubs that are focused on specific functional areas like finance, marketing, and so on.

What are some of the trends you're seeing in the job market right now?
We're seeing some midsize companies not afraid to compete for MBA talent and they're stretching on salaries, they can't make it as high as some. There seems to be a broader and deeper job market out there. There's a lot more interviewing happening, but the companies are still being very selective.

Do you have your own philosophy on how to build a career?
For talented individuals, and we see a lot of them in MBA programs, their career satisfaction over their lifetimes is lower than the average person. And a lot of that is driven by the fact that they're good at so many different things. I talk to our students about that and I say, don't worry about focusing on doing one thing. Think about the three, four or five things you'd like to do over your lifetime, and build the skill sets for those, build the experiences for those.