May 19, 2011

ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT: Anna Broek and Bevin Bullock


Anna Vander Broek, MBA 2012
Anna Vander Broek, Full-time Honors MBA, 2012 (Summer Internship with Dell)


How does this internship experience fit into your career goals/professional development?
I come from an online publishing/media background. The intention of my MBA is to break away from the media side of online and move into online marketing. I also want to specifically work in high tech.  I am fortunate that Dell fits my long-term goals exactly.
   
How did you find this internship opportunity?
Two members of the Dell University Recruitment team came to Baruch through the GCMC. I introduced myself at a talk they gave the night before interviews began, and they invited me to interview the next morning. 

What will your responsibilities be?
My title will be Intern Graduate Sr. Advisor-eDell, and I am going to be doing online marketing for the eDell team.  This will include working with customer experience on Dell.com, supporting Dell business units on Dell.com, online project execution, looking at Dell.com site design and content quality and other tasks.  When I arrive in Texas, I will be assigned a specific project and I'll be expected to present the results at the end of my internship. 

What advice would you give to students looking for an internship?
Work every single network you have. I emailed all my old bosses that I was looking for internships. I also tapped into my undergraduate alumni network.  Don’t be shy telling everyone you know you’re looking for a summer internship.  You will be surprised who will help you out.  When you go into an interview, know why you want to work in that position for that company – chances are you’ll be asked about it.

Bevin Bullock, MBA 2012
Bevin Bullock, MBA, 2012: Management/Operations Management (Summer Internship at JetBlue)

How did you find this internship? 
I spoke with two representatives from JetBlue at the Baruch Career Day event.  They advised me on how to apply online and followed up with me afterwards to help me set up the interview.

What sort of questions did you have to answer at the interview? 
I had a phone interview and an in-person interview. All of the interview questions were based on past experiences and asked me to elaborate on how I handled a particular situation or how I exhibited a certain trait.  For instance, "Tell me about a time during your MBA experience where you exhibited one of the 5 core values," or "Tell me about how you handled a conflict with a past coworker."

What will your responsibilities be at JetBlue? 
I will be responsible for analyzing current staffing levels in each of JetBlue's departments to make sure that they are staffed properly, and also analyzing various positions to determine whether each employee position matches his or her skill set.

How does this internship experience fit into your career goals/professional development? 
This internship fits into my career goals because it is a nice segue between what I did in the past and what I want to do after graduation.  My previous career experience was mainly in managing people and departments, and I would like to move into a role that is operations-based and where I will be managing a process, in addition to supervising other employees.  This role will help me to build my analytic skills, and will allow me to learn how to use Microsoft Access in greater detail. 

Any tips for scoring an interview?
My advice for students looking for an internship is to use as many channels as possible.  Although I found this one through Baruch, I also got other internship interviews by applying directly on the company's website, applying through CareerLink, or through some of my contacts.  Also, be persistent about following up.  JetBlue originally told me that there were no positions available, but because I had spoken with the recruiters several times and had developed a relationship with them, when a new position did open up I got a call from them and had the internship within the week.