What was your major at Butler? Have you pursued any graduate degrees post-Butler?

International Business and Marketing double major. I've been in the workforce since and have not pursued a post grad degree. 

Where are you currently working? Where have you worked before now?

My first job out of undergrad I worked as a Technical Support Specialist at HubSpot which is a SAAS company that businesses use as a CRM. I worked there for about four months, used the opportunity to sharpen my SAAS technical skills and experience, then got a job as a Client Success Manager at Panorama Education. Panorama's data dashboards help educators better analyze student data and implement the appropriate support plan. After two years as a Client Success Manager working mostly with our Small Districts and Schools segment, I started managing our single school/international school division. I managed a team of 3 people who supported clients in dozens of countries like Brazil, India and South Africa. A year later I started managing our Mid-Size Districts client segment where I currently lead a team of 8 Project Managers who serve 320 clients and 15 million in annual recurring revenue.

Have you worked or traveled internationally since graduation? If yes, where? If not, do you anticipate going abroad in the future?

I’ve traveled a lot more internationally since graduating. I’ve been to Portugal, Paris, Lyon, Besançon, Marseille, Mexico City, Ivory Coast and Costa Rica soon.

What advice would you give an IB major who is not sure about what they want to do with their major after graduation? 

An IB major is very flexible and can allow you access to most roles and grad programs if you know how to best communicate the value of your experiences. As someone who's served as hiring manager for multiple roles and has screened/interviewed more than 50+ of candidates, I can confidently say companies care less about your specific major but rather the experiences you’ve acquired. However, your major is important because it's a helpful framework designed to help you get the experiences best aligned to your interests. If you’re not sure what to do after graduation, consider these questions;

1. What topics interest you most? Think through what you find yourself researching most on your own or chatting with friends about such as art, education, TV, music, fitness, sports/gaming etc...

2.  Think through your experiences in school or internships, what have been your favorite projects you’ve completed? 

3. Reflect on your specific contribution to that project, what did you love most about this project/ What tasks did you do most enjoy doing? (Ex the research, data analysis, organizing the team etc) 

These reflection questions should help you figure out what industries you’re attracted to and what specific jobs you’d be interested in doing within those industries. If you’re having trouble finding meaningful /enjoyable academic or professional experiences throughout your undergrad then that could suggest a different major in grad school would be helpful to better prepare you for the role you want so should consider grad school or acquiring the right certification in that field. The great news is your IB major is broad enough to get you into almost any grad program! Even highly technical ones.

On the other hand if you’re able to find one or multiple examples of projects you’ve completed you enjoyed you should search open roles that fit what you’re looking for. Each job posting outlines requirements and the ideal candidate profile, read through those and reflect on how your experiences far align to that role and where they don’t. Reflect on how you can acquire the skills/experiences that don’t align.

Another tip is to find people who do that job via Google/LinkedIn or alumni network and see how they describe their own role, see what experiences they had prior to having that role and see if you have similar or transferable experiences. The key is to focus on the transferable skills and experiences. As a recent grad job searching, you’re likely not gonna have every skill/experience the role requires, the most valuable thing you can do is thoughtfully and concisely articulate in detail how your existing experiences would translate well to the role even if you’ve never done it before. Describe exactly how your IB background and the learnings/takeaways from your experiences will enhance or compliment the role. I recommend partnering with a professor or the wonderful folks at Career services to help you articulate this well. 

Are there any skills (soft skills, language skills, communications, etc.) that you would advise that IB majors prioritize while still in school?

 I strongly recommend focusing on learning how to navigate a SAAS(software as a service) product. Almost all companies no matter the industry operate using SAAS products like SalesForce, HubSpot, JIRA, Zendesk and Asana. A lot of companies will say that mastering the different tools they use is probably the one of the most difficult parts of the role. Knowing how to use these is a huge advantage as a candidate, especially one coming from undergrad. Most of the SAAS companies give certifications to confirm you’ve mastered their leveraging their software once you take certain virtual trainings. Once you learn one like SF or Hubspot, the rest operate mostly the same way so I highly recommend getting a SF or Hubspot certification. My experience at HubSpot within Tech Support helped me land my first role at Panorama which paid almost double my previous salary!

I also recommend getting a PMP(Project Management Professional) certification. Every role that exists require project and task management skills. A PMP certification will give you the language and tools to effectively demonstrate you can run the projects/tasks you’re assigned to the highest quality and scale. Even if you’re applying for a job you’ve never done, the PMP helps the company feel you could be an agile learner who can implement your project management skills to the role.