MIS students get career guidance from IT professionals

What happens when 20 mid-level information technology executives decide to pay the mentoring they received forward? Oakland University MIS and MSITM students benefit.

Eighteen Oakland University MIS undergraduate and graduate students had the exclusive opportunity to get career advice from information technology professionals first hand when the nonprofit organization We Build Character brought 20 members to the business school to share their knowledge with the next generation of professionals this April.

The half-day session included interview overviews, a look at current trends of technology careers, the impact of social media on job seekers and mock interview sessions. The event concluded with a panel discussion focused on the hiring manager’s perspective on how to be successful during and after an interview.

“The feedback from the interviewers during the mock interviews was the most helpful part,” says Matthew Sharp, an OU MSITM student who plans to graduate August 2014. “Overall, the event was very valuable.”

In a post-event survey, the students who attended agreed all aspects of event were informative and helpful. They identified several ways they planned to apply what they learned, including updating their social networking sites, preparing for job by practicing interview questions, and being concise when answering interview questions.

Specifically, students walked away with a greater sense of the importance of LinkedIn with many noting they plan to update and enhance their LinkedIn profiles and others noting the need the “clean” their social media stories.