OwenBloggers: Jared - MBA '09

Oh, The Things We Thought We Knew - Part III

If things seem a bit quiet on the blogger front, its probably because most of us are hunkered down and preparing for our respective MOD III exams. That being said, it also means its time for the MOD III installment of "Oh, The Things We Thought We Knew."

This time around, I am including my own thoughts as well as those of other Owen students who I invite to put their "lesson's learned" in the comments section. So, here goes...

For my part, I can tell you that MOD III was, by far, the most emotionally intense MOD, yet. Normally business and emotion are kept separate but this time around, the stakes are higher with internship searches in full swing and many of us branching out to do real world independent projects.

Weary and worn out, we did manage to have some fun and somehow coalesce as a class around common themes of anxiety and anticipation. The Women's Business Association had a great symposium, we partied it up at Owen Trivia Night and OwenBloggers even got in on the act with a social media roundtable.

In all, a lot of us are still leaving this MOD with our summer plans unresolved but something tells me that MOD IV is going to be just as interesting.

Here is what some other OwenBloggers thought were this MOD's major takeaways:

• "I definitely think this was the mod of all mods for working in a team (or 4...) I think it tested us all having to coordinate so much with so many people...many lessons learned from that!" ~ Amanda
• "Do not overload on work whatsoever. At all!!! Especially extra projects - BIG mistake. Also, never give up. If you work really hard in your internship search, and are told 'no' many times, which will happen, if you don't give up that hard work will land you in front of someone, somewhere down the line, who will give you the chance you need. Hard work and a little but of luck - so don't give up!" ~ Colleen
• "I wish I knew how hard and how much time the internship search was ACTUALLY going to take. I think I would have started much earlier on it had I known." ~ Neeraj

Like I said, feel free to add your own in the comments section - tell us what you learned in MOD III.

Oh! And for those of you who want to keep things in perspective, you can take a look back at MOD I's version of this post, here, and MOD II's version of this post, here.

As always, we end with some photos:

Technorati Tags: Oh The Things We Thought We Knew, Owen Graduate School of Management, OwenBloggers

Owen's Next Big Fashion Trend

Normally, I am not one to wear t-shirts but one company may have just changed my mind with what could be Owen's next great fashion trend! A company has started up (and you can see they're pitch deck, here) totally dedicated to creating t-shirts inspired by the life of venture capitalists:

The best part about it is that they also have t-shirts for just about every other Owen discipline:

Leadership Communications:

Marketing:

Operations:

Strategy:

Even Economics:

(I don't know...it just felt like something Luke Froeb would wear...)

Get yours today and let's see if we can't make ourselves look even more geeky on Saturday than some of us are already.

EDIT :: As you might notice, the price-tag per shirt is $100. The price for the entire company is $100,000. I am hoping the former decides that it could reach a whole new audience of b-school geeks if they would lower the price.

Technorati Tags: MBA Humor, VC Wear, Venture Capital

Help Break Danny Sulkin Out Of Jail!

Danny, our intrepid media sage at Owen, needs your help! He's been jailed (we assume, for doing too good an impersonation of Bob Villa) and OwenBloggers is here to make sure that he gets sprung.

Ok, maybe we were joking about the Bob Villa thing but we do have a chance to help Danny raise $1,200 for Jerry's Kids and the Muscular Dystrophy Association. Even though wer're sure he's working on some MacGyver-esque escape with USB cables and a mic stand, we are going to challenge every Owen student to donate $10 to help spring Danny from the clink (c'mon, that's like only three Starbucks' lattes).

To get him to that goal, visit his MDA fundraising site and donate, today. (It takes most major credit cards) With your help, we can get help a worthy charity while simultaneously supporting an awesome Owen community member!

Technorati Tags: Danny Sulkin, Jerry's Kids, MDA

But, I thougt they wanted to hire smart people?

If you're looking for another rant about how hard the internship search is, you're not going to find it here.

This week brought a barrage of emotions from first years who are still out there looking for internships. At the same time that the Owen CMC is reporting that, as a class, we are ahead of the curve in locking down our summer plans, we are also seeing a noticeable down-shift in internship recruiting across almost all industries.

Troubling as it may be, repeated "dings" for internships probably affect our generation more than any other. As a part of "Generation ME," the Millennials or any other name you want to call us defeat in any shape is not taken lightly. It appears that many of us, well-adjusted thanks to years of little-leauge softball where everyone gets a trophy, just don't like hearing hearing the word "no."

BusinessWeek points out that this characteristic is not going to fade, routinely preparing Boomer and Gen X managers for what they are about to get themselves into. In the meantime, however, we need to stop asking ourselves why, despite our hard-earned skills and acumen, would any company NOT want to hire us.

O.K., so that might be an over-simplification of what's going on but my point still stands. In fact, defeat does serve its purpose. It's getting competitive out there, no doubts about that. The question is; how do you want to respond the challenge.

A part of what makes Owen an incredible place to get your MBA is that we are all charged, in a way no other school can, to gain personal value through continually building up this community. For those of you with an internship, find someone that hasn't gotten there yet and help them out. For those of you who don't have an internship yet, make time to talk with someone who does.

The point is to never ask yourself why you weren't good enough for that job you just got "dinged" for. Only ask yourself what resources are around you that can help you land what you really want to do.

Technorati Tags: BusinessWeek, Genneration Me, internships, Owen Graduate School of Management, Millennials

Tata-Jag Merger May Resurrect Jag F-Type

Just when you thought the nano was all Tata would bring to Indian roads, there is speculation that the merger may result in the resurrection of Jag's much-vaunted but never-realized F-Type.

Photo Courtesy of Diseno-art.com - Online Vehicle Encyclopedia

Looking like the car almost all of us want to have at some pont, the F-Type is a definite throw back to a different type of sports car. One, BusinessWeek speculates, could be just the mix of R&D brilliance and production opportunity Tata needs to assert that it can revive Jag.

Technorati Tags: BusinessWeek, Jaguar F-Type, sports car, Tata Nano

Lights...Camera...Resume: How to become an internet video star and get hired at the same time.

For some reason, I keep on coming across new ways companies are trying to recruit new employees. The other day I posted an interesting tidbit on recruiting in Second Life where interviews can occur without even the slightest hint of what the prospective employee really looks like.

Today, I am going exactly the opposite route with a new site called VideoJobShop. Companies like Accenture, Ernst & Young, Sodexho and over 100 more are now posting video mini-features to the site in hopes of gaining an edge in recruiting. The site , in turn, also has a way for prospective employees to create their own videos and post it as a "video resume" in response to an open position.

Some of the videos are bit bland but once in a while, you do get one where you get the feeling that a recruiting manager out there really does know their audience. Take this one from, of all places, Enst & Young:

Obviously, this is a great way to show off your creativity. On the downside, this is a nightmare scenario for all of you that cringed at your Talbott-produced LComm videos. For my part, if I were to ever create one of these video resumes, it would probably include a musical number and a bloopers real of the nice folks at the CMC.

What do you guys think - Would you ever post a video resume to something like this and if so, what would you do to make yourself stand out?

Technorati Tags: careers, video resume, VideoJobShop.com

Politics, a democracy of ideas and Owen

Recently, the OSGA elections were postponed due to an issue in the voting process. Though not the end of the world, many people are upset at this apparent lapse and are calling for alternate voting methods. Indeed, when you create a student-driven MBA environment like we have here at Owen, elections for leadership positions like student government are bound to take on heightened importance. The challenge is to figure out just how much democracy you care to stand.

Coming from an undergrad experience at one of the most politically active universities in the nation, I can tell you that democracy can get messy. In fact student government elections were like something out of a Stanley Kubrik movie. There were years administrators had to literally take blue tape to every building on campus to restrict where candidates could hang their posters.

Luckily enough, we are a bit more level-headed here at Owen. Or so we like to believe.

It appears that this snafu in the voting process has some people worried that if the situation gets too political, it may shatter the collaborative culture for which Owen is known. The trouble with that is as we see the rise of the next wave of business leaders, we are also going to see a new democracy emerge with it; a democracy of ideas.

In that democracy, when it comes time to chose leadership to implement those ideas, politics in the process inevitable. The best any of us can do is create forums to express those ideas, ensure a fair and transparent voting/selection process and then be willing to step back and watch grassroots business take shape.

Now, I am not going to claim that I have the silver bullet to this problem. I doubt anyone does. What I can say, however, is that the moment you stop fearing politics you start focusing on ideas. The best we can hope for in this situation is that the re-voting process is speedy, transparent and most importantly, that the participants assert that they are in it for the ideas, not the process.

When it comes to offering a democracy of ideas through student leadership, Owen is on the leading edge. Our job is to be responsible practitioners of that ideal and, in the process, take the mantle of a whole new way to lead.

Technorati Tags: democracy of ideas, Owen Graduate School of Management, politics, student government

LiveBlogging: CMC Town Hall on 1st Year Internships

The Owen Career Management Center is holding a town hall meeting on 1st Year Internships

Smile, Matt...you're on!

Matt is the Career pillar here at Owen and responsible for helping the CMC and the student body get together and make beautiful career harmony together.

Introduction

• Matt kick things off.
• Oh boy, Joyce has "the career timeline" slide up.
• Yay for us, we're on the ball since we are here at the town hall.
  •

Getting Your Game Plan On

• Reality check - now is the time to get on the search.
• Creating A, B and C Plans for target lists.
• KEY - Keep the pipeline full until you have your offer signed.
• Class of 2009 has more offers than any others - factor of early on-campus interviews.

Status of Internship Offers

• Accelerator that made 10 offers.
• Companies are impressed with class of 2009.
• By April 70 to 80% of 1st years will have an offer, if the trend continues.
• Vast majority of on-campus interviews have been scheduled or being scheduled now.

Upcoming Opportunities to Be Aware Of

• SEAMBIF Forum - March 28th in Atlanta, 35 Companies
• UNC, Duke, Darden, Vandy - Big Interview Forum, available in OCNS.
• March is huge for new postings, without On-Campus interviews
• Large number of MBA internships are out there, check company web sites.
• 60% of MBA Internships are ones that are gotten off-campus.

Online Tools - Very Cool

• Ohh, she's asking us to remember back to Orientation...having trouble remembering anything....
• Use Job Sites: http://www.indeed.com (Use Advanced Job Search Function) - allows you to search opportunities directly on corporate web sites.
• I have to admit, indeed kicks the heck out of monster or hotjobs
• Great Tool!

Advice

• Be Flexible
• Don't Constrain Yourself By Geography
• Don't Focus on Pay, Focus on Opportunity
• Comment: This might be a bit of a misnomer since, as some students are pointing out, some clubs and people tell you to try not to compromise.
• Joyce uses that point as a way to emphasize this as a reason to go see the CMC staff.

Summary/Analysis

It's always tough to be objective on this since we are all stressed based on our need to get internships. MOD III is always going to be harried and we need to step up to the plate on doing that extra research.

Comment: Dude...Matt just points out MOD III is over in three weeks....THREE WEEKS!!?!?!?!

The CMC is working its collective fingers to the bone and this brings up the question of balance of academics and job search. Some students are making the point that it puts a lot of pressures on us. Frankly, I think this is part and parcel of the b-school experience. We have to do some major heavy lifting if we want that MBA-level job.

Overall, Vanderbilt/Owen may not be the best place to see every big name company come to hand out job offers HOWEVER, the CMC staff does genuinely care about students getting the jobs they want.

It reminds me, the best thing that Owen students have going for them in terms of career search is Joyce, John, and the rest of the CMC crew along with the Owen Alumni. They help you get the jobs you want, if you're willing to do your end of hard work.

Podcasting Reasserts It's Relavence

After about two years of stagnant growth, podcast audiences are now expected to grow 251% to 65 million by 2012, according to a new eMarketer article.

This news is not that surprising since podcast growth has been on the rise since many mainstream media outlets like CNN, NBC and the BBC have adopted the technology.

What's really interesting about this is that it's not the big media guys that are benefiting, financially. It's the smaller businesses and content producers that are getting the majority of the new dollars being spent on podcast advertising, which is also expected to grow to $435 Million by 2012 (it's somewhere in the neighborhood of $143 Million right now).

What this means for businesses is that podcasting has reasserted itself as a way to target niche audiences and demonstrate product-area expertise. As a veteran podcaster - and you know I had to mention it at some point - this is a welcome validation of many hours spent convincing executives that the medium was worth it.

Ultimately, I think you'll see a lot of businesses flock to podcasting as a way to create content in and around their products. I also think that consumers, as the digital music player market grows and becomes even more mobile with the advent of 3G phones, will continue the trend of seeking out more targeted and personal alternatives to traditional radio.

Technorati Tags: emarketer, podcasters, podcasting

Groundhog Roundup

Once again, it is time for us to turn our heads towards the earth to seek advice from that all-knowing weather man; the groundhog. Like consultants, there are plenty of them out there. Also like consultants, all of them are willing to give you their opinion wether you like it or not.

The question is, who do you believe?

By far, the most famous of these prognosticators is Punxsutawney Phil from Gobbler's Knob, PA. His prediction this year is that we are in for six more weeks of winter. Then again, he is from Pennsylvania so let's seek another opinion.

Unfortunately the local Nashville groundhog, Lil, died on January 17th. That leaves Owl's Hill Nature Sanctuary, the typical source for Nashville's groundhog prediction, without a mid-Tennesee indicator.

That leaves us with my favorite groundhog predictor of all time: General Beauregard Lee, Ph.D., the official groundhog of the Yellow River Game Ranch in Atlanta, GA. Beau wakes up every Groundhog Day to a plateful of Waffle House hash-browns (scattered, smothered and covered, of course!) and has been slightly more accurate than Phil. (Don't ask me for supporting data, the journal article I found on the subject was bias and excluded multiple rodent indicators.)

Anyway, Beau says we're getting an early spring and judging by the weather today, I believe him. If you need more proof that Beau is the man, 80% of the general groundhog population agrees with him this year, leaving Phil in the minority.

Happy Groundhog Day, everyone!

Technorati Tags: Bau Lee, Groundhog Day, Punxsutawney Phil, Yellow River Game Ranch