When I got to school on Friday, October 2nd, I knew the day would be a bit different. Students in blazers and no bookbags. Employers like Deloitte and Wipro setting up in our many crescent classrooms. Career Management Center personnel racing to put out last minute fires. Goizueta Career Connection was about to begin – and the density of business suits would have impressed a Hong Kong tailor.
GCC is our annual career exploration and networking event. What does that mean? Think career fair, but more personalized. We spend the day with actual company employees learning about everything from industry challenges to the typical day at the office. But GCC itself is no typical day at Goizueta. Consider the schedule:
11:30am: Sponsored lunches with companies like Capgemini and J.P. Morgan, with good conversation and delicious grub
1:00pm: Keynote address by the CEO of Turner Broadcasting – more on that in a second…
2:15pm: Something we call “Interactive Learning Modules” (ILMs), where companies like Atlanta Equity and WellPoint walk through their most interesting problems on topics like marketing, finance, and consulting. Wander into 208 and hear Humana talking about their beef with the public option, or slip into 304 and listen to a Goldman Sachs VP acknowledge that yes, some do consider a GS career to be “the Goldman ticket” (get it?) to bigger and better things.
7:00pm: Goizueta Casino Royale night at Aja Restaurant. Employer reps + open bar + casino games = a surreally fun night of gaining contacts and losing bets.
One of the highlights was the talk by the Turner Broadcasting CEO, Philip I. Kent. First thing you need to know about Chairman Phil is that he’d been “banned” from speaking at Emory. Turns out that seven years ago he was speaking to the BBAs (undergraduate business students) and called an MBA degree nothing more than a “white-collar union card” – a statement only slightly less awkward for a business school dean than asking how he spends his salary.
In his talk, Chairman Phil touched on the value of youth, happiness, and not having much to lose. A few quotes stood out:
- “I’ve never read a business management book cover-to-cover, and I’m the only CEO of a Southeast company who doesn’t play golf.”
- “There’s nothing that you can do in the next ten years that you cannot undo, besides committing a felony or putting something inappropriate on Facebook.”
- “Your personal attitude is what is 100% within your control. Be positive, energetic, and happy to take on the hardest and most unpopular tasks.”
It’s this last message I enjoyed most. It’s the spirit of spending 12 hours with company reps exploring what the heck we might want to do after this thing called Business School. A different kind of day at Goizueta – and a good one.
Read the full article: The Day Employers Descended On Goizueta