GCMC Sponsors Upcoming Graduate Business Networking Event “Just in Time” for Spring Recruitment Season
The Graduate Career Management Center (GCMC) will host a “Just in Time” networking and employment recruitment event on Friday, March 26th from 12:30 PM to 3:00 PM ET. For the second consecutive year, the event will be held virtually for current graduate business students enrolled in the MBA, MS in Business Analytics (MSBA) and Master of Accounting (MAcc) programs. Participants will have the opportunity to engage with William & Mary alumni and employers seeking new talent to learn about various career paths, explore new industries, and participate in hiring activities.
“Just in Time” is one of three recruiting events integral to the graduate business student experience at the Raymond A. Mason School of Business. Its fall counterparts, the Graduate Symposium and Tech Day, serve to prepare students by connecting them with information about graduate business-oriented careers, and with alumni and employers for hiring referrals.
“These events were established in order to connect our alumni network and strategic employer partners with our job-seeking students because we discovered there was a real gap in hiring for students in the fall,” said Amy Moyer, Associate Director for Corporate Relations & Employer Engagement at the Mason School. “Not all employers, especially those looking for tech talent, have the capacity to do fall recruitment so we created an opportunity our partners to conduct information sessions to become familiar with the talent, and then another concentrated effort to connect employers with students in the spring when they are ready to make hiring decisions.”
“Just in Time” will be hosted via a virtual platform that allow students to connect with employers through one-to-one video chat and digital messaging services, and provide employers the opportunity to review student resumes for those unable to schedule a specific time to chat. Past participants include organizations in the consulting, government, nonprofit, media and entertainment, financial, retail, healthcare, and enterprise software industries, to name a few.
“We are very targeted in our outreach. While the majority of our students choose to pursue careers in consulting after graduation, we have a significant number who are interested in exploring a variety of other industries, and those vary for each cohort. We survey the students to align our outreach with their interests and bring in nontraditional employers who are looking to hire graduates with technical data and analytical skills.”
Last fall, the GCMC held its annual Tech Day hosting nearly 30 employers and over 100 students primarily from the MSBA program, though several students from the MAcc and MBA programs elected to participate.
“I was able to speak to several companies with a few of them asking me technical questions to check my skills,” said Haider Ali, MSBA ’21. “Through that, I was able to make some connections and follow up with the companies’ representatives, and use them as referrals for jobs and positions that I was interested in including with Accenture Federal Services (AFS) with whom I secured a full-time position as a Senior Analyst. Tech Day enabled me to connect with AFS employees who were able to guide me through the application process.”
Prior to 2020, both events were typically held in Miller Hall to allow for in-person networking. The pandemic forced the GCMC to shift their efforts to a virtual format, which in some ways has augmented their ability to connect student talent with employers located across the country.
“The pandemic removed barriers and switched up our processes a bit. It’s much easier to get students and employers together virtually whereas when we were in-person it was challenging because an employer may only be on campus during specific hours which may have conflicted with a student’s academic schedule,” Moyer explained.
In the last year, the GCMC has also expanded its portfolio of networking opportunities to include events like Mason Career Circles which are information sessions sponsored by the Mason School in a variety of formats like panel discussions and alumni meetups.
“We hosted, for example, a group of folks who represented different organizations related to the autonomous vehicle sector. They spoke to students about working for their respective companies, how to get a job, and the state of their industry. It’s encouraged conversations that never would have happened in that context if we were in-person,” Moyer said.
“We are untraditional compared to other graduate career management centers in that we have separate corporate relations and advising teams whereas they are usually one in the same,” Moyer continued. “It’s a benefit to students because we make connections for them on their behalf. We don’t do placement, but we act as connectors and give students the tools through events like Tech Day and Just in Time to pursue their career dreams and goals.”
Registration is still open for employers interested in participating in “Just in Time”. To RSVP, please complete our 2021 Corporate Engagement Survey.
Students can register for the event and find more information on MasonLink including an updated list of alumni participants and employers.
