I came to Fuqua intent on making a career transition … but then the program began and I quickly let schoolwork, socializing with classmates, and my work/family responsibilities take precedent. Now, however, it’s crunch time!

For those of us making a career transition, we were told from the beginning of the program that we’d need to treat the job search like a fourth class. Now that we’re on the home stretch, I realize why that was good advice. I recently spent two hours at Fuqua, refining my plan of attack with a member of the CMC (Career Management Center). Leveraging the CMC has been essential for me to focus my efforts, and learn how to approach this process. Over the past few months, I’ve identified target companies and pursued leads. So far, it has been quite a learning experience. The main lessons I have taken away is that your personal network is VITAL to success, “HR” at times seems to stand for Human Remains, and in the current economic environment, you have to prepare even further in advance.

I continue to schedule informational interviews with Fuqua alumni within target companies and am searching for openings (which are not always openly listed). The Fuqua alumni network has been fantastic! Everyone I have reached out to has been responsive and extremely helpful. Over the next few weeks, I hope to make some serious inroads to my targets. I will keep you posted of successes and failures … Hopefully, more the former than the later!