ALL THINGS WPC
id you know business alumni enjoy lifelong access to W. P. Carey career resources, events, connections, and opportunities? Yes, really! W. P. Carey Career Management and Employer Engagement (CMEE) connects and enhances the lifelong professional development and recruitment journeys of students, alumni, and employers alike. We are pleased to introduce you to CMEE and highlight some of their new offerings. Head over to career.wpcarey.asu.edu to learn more or connect with the team directly.
The school has taken a fresh approach to every aspect of career development for W. P. Carey students and alumni. Why? Because resumes and interviews are small parts of a lifelong career management journey — and to teach this lesson, we needed to reboot our curriculum.
Sharon Irwin-Foulon
Sharon Irwin-Foulon
Sharon Irwin-Foulon
The business school’s new program is designed to follow students through their academic journeys in a more efficient and focused way. “The goal is to ensure they are confident and capable of reaching out to the market at the right time and to differentiate themselves for all the right reasons,” she explains.
Taught workshop-style and customized to fit each W. P. Carey degree program, CMEE leads boot camp sessions for students at the start of the school year. These sessions serve as the basis for new career-planning courses and workshops for students at all levels. The school has also designed a similar experience just for alumni; the first such event was held in February, with more planned for the future.
“The boot camp serves as a space for students and alumni to understand with more clarity what they bring to the table and where they will thrive. It is foundational to all of our work,” says Irwin-Foulon. Too often, she adds, people either rush through or dismiss this part of the career-planning process.
One participant in the alumni offering was a 2019 Full-time MBA graduate. “At the time of the workshop, I had been wrapping up the interview process and was deciding between multiple offers,” says Caitlin Styres (MBA ’19), who works as a product manager at custom software consultancy Synapse Studios in Tempe, Arizona. “Using what I discovered about myself and advice from others in the workshop, I was able to narrow down my options to accept the best fit with my values and long-term personal and professional goals.”
The CMEE team launched a comprehensive new website (career.wpcarey.asu.edu) in January. The alumni section of the site provides cover letter/resume templates, job boards, career events, and more. You can also access deep industry, employer, and marketplace intelligence to see exactly what your dream job requires, using the labor market insights tool.
In addition to accessing resources, alumni can also use the site to build deeper connections with the W. P. Carey community. CMEE made sure to include contact information for people like Mickie Lara, program manager for Alumni and Executive Career Management and your dedicated W. P. Carey alumni contact for career support.
Anthony Cortright
Anthony Cortright
Anthony Cortright
To streamline the recruiting process for employers as much as possible, each member of the Employer Engagement team is dedicated to specific industries and employer partners. CMEE team members build deep connections with the companies in their portfolios, help employers differentiate their job offerings, and ensure that these companies engage with the most suitable candidates. Their portfolios collectively include more than 1,000 companies from around the world, including Adidas, Amazon, AT&T, General Mills, Microsoft, and Target.
“We also leverage alumni within these organizations by getting them involved in speaking to students, talking about their experiences and career paths, and what helped them get ahead,” says Anthony Cortright, senior assistant director of Career Management and Employer Engagement. He adds that alumni also share their inside views on corporate culture; work-life balance; and diversity, equity, and inclusion.