Meg Barnes joined the School of Business Staff last November as the Director of Undergraduate Career Preparation, a new position within the School of Business, with the goal of transforming how students prepare for entering the job market. Her vision is to infuse career preparation with academics to create a different profile of students, students who have the rare quality of self-awareness that comes from thorough career preparation.

In order to carry out this vision, Barnes is focusing on four areas: resume building, interview tips and skills, job search strategies, and networking.  She explains, “Career prep should not begin with upperclassman, but instead with freshmen.” By beginning with freshmen and working with them year-by-year, Barnes is building their skill sets, helping them with self-branding, and empowering them to go out and look for opportunities. If they can establish a goal early on, they can begin taking the steps needed to achieve that goal, with Barnes guiding them through the process.

She is connecting with students through guest lectures, workshops, the Ole Miss Career website, and our Facebook page. By using social media, Barnes taps into the students’ network. Service learning positions, job shadowing opportunities, internships, and leadership training programs are posted daily on the School of Business Twitter account like breaking news for students actively looking for opportunities.

According to Barnes, one of the greatest assets to the career preparation process is the strong support of our Alumni. In her short time here, she has already noticed there is something different about Ole Miss Alumni, “This campus lives an Ole Miss experience that extends past sports. You can tell that the alumni are proud of their legacy here.” Alumni can extend their legacy even further by staying involved, whether through attending networking events, reviewing resumes, assisting with mock interviews, or guest lecturing in a class. Interacting with alumni gives students a real connection to the industries and positions in which they are interested and helps them to broaden their networks.

In only a few short months, student feedback has been tremendous. Students are taking advantage of the expertise and career prep tools that Barnes has to offer. With the help of alumni and Barnes’ dedication, Ole Miss Business students are poised to successfully entering the workforce.

If you are interested in getting involved in any of the ways listed above please contact Ms. Barnes at mbarnes@bus.olemiss.edu. If you would like to hire an Ole Miss student or graduate, please contact the University of Mississippi Career Center, https://www.career.olemiss.edu/aboutus.html or by telephone, 662-915-7174.

Speaker’s Edge contestants prepare for the competition

What happens when you bring together industry professionals, working alumni, retirees, and students to participate in a speech event unlike any other? Graduate and undergraduate students compete at the highest levels to wow the judges, gaining the confidence and experience needed to enter into the global conversation.

This year’s Speaker’s Edge Competition featured 122 graduate and undergraduate students from the MBA program, Master’s of Accounting program, and the Journalism, and Engineering schools. For the first week and a half, these students met with world-class communication coaches who helped them develop their own personal speaking style and work on their strengths and weaknesses. After this coaching period, the students were ready to enter into the two-day competition where they presented three different speeches for a series of judges. The three different speeches, marketplace pitch, informative communication, and ethical dilemmas, simulated business situations giving students experience in communicating on such a level.

Not only was Speaker’s Edge a great experience for the students, it was also a great experience for the judges. Over 60 alumni and industry experts traveled to Oxford to attend this two day event. Speaker’s Edge connected judges with the participants, allowing them to become invested in the students’ success. All judges and participants were invited to a reception on the first night where they could get to know each other and network. Speaker’s Edge gave the alumni a chance to reengage in the learning experience at Ole Miss.

Coach Randy Harrington preps students prior to the competition.

Dean Ken Cyree awards Karan York, winner of the Market Place Pitch.

To view the Speaker’s Edge Competition finals for 2015 visit: http://www.olemissbusiness.com/mba/campusmba/speakersedge.html

If you would like to learn more about the Speaker’s Edge Competition or want to be involved in next year’s events you can visit speakersedge.olemiss.edu.

Congratulations to faculty member Dr. Brian Reithel on his new position on the board of the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP). Dr. Reithel is a MIS Professor at the School of Business and also serves as a national/regional leader for the Association of Information Technology Professionals and other organizations. In addition, he has over 12 years of consulting experience in supporting CEOs of community blood center with setting their IT strategies and also helping them oversee and manage the development of their core enterprise management application. This experience led to his nomination to the NMDP board.

The National Marrow Donor Program is a nonprofit organization that’s dedicated to helping patients facing life-threatening blood cancers like leukemia and lymphoma. Over the past 25 years, the NMDP has become the world’s leading nonprofit organization focused on saving lives through marrow and cord blood transplantation (see www.BeTheMatch.org for more information). Dr. Reithel will serve on the board as a volunteer. His continuing service and work outside of the classroom exemplifies what it means to be a part of the Ole Miss School of Business.