Category: Spring 2020

Hello! This is Ophelie again (see my last post on Odyssey Plans for graduate students)! I hope you are enjoying the slower pace of summer and using this time to reflect on the past year and whether you are taking steps towards your goals. It was in a moment of rest and reflection that I realized I was speeding down a highway to the wrong destination.

I will spare you the details, but during my junior year at SMU, I realized that I was chasing someone else’s dream. This discovery led me to cancel my MCAT test the week before I was supposed to take it and leave my medical school applications incomplete. I had reached my breaking point…and it changed everything. I chose to realign my life to match my innermost desires – to innovate a future in which amputees have a better quality of life.

Regardless of what you want to do with your life, I have seen that oftentimes things seem to fall into place when your efforts align with your passions and you allow yourself to let go of the future you “think you want”. I never thought I would pursue a PhD, but here I am, committed to UCLA in the Fall to pursue a PhD in Mechanical Engineering, and taking it one step at a time.

In an effort to demystify the first step towards a PhD – the application – here are some tips:

1. Research which schools are best in your field and focus on finding labs that align with your interests. You want to give yourself options, so apply to several schools (I applied to 8).
2. Reach out via email to professors you are interested in working with EARLY. Include all the relevant “selling points” about yourself and BE SURE to include why you are interested in their research SPECIFICALLY. Evaluate your network and ask for an introduction if possible!
3. Focus on your personal statement and have many people provide feedback.

Once you receive your acceptance letters, there are several factors to consider! Start by asking yourself the following questions:

1. How does this university and the program in my field of interest stand out? The quality of education is obviously important; thus, consider the rank of the institution in your field of interest. However, do not let yourself become starry eyed when you get into an ivy league school and forget to address the following factors as well.
2. What advising style do you prefer? Your professor will be your boss, your mentor, your greatest advocate, and your biggest source of support. ASK THEM what their advising style is like so that you can be sure you have found someone you want to follow.
3. What lab culture are you looking for? Talk with the current students in the lab and ask them about their experience with the advisor, their hours in the lab, and their overall experience!
4. Where do you want to live? As superficial as this may sound, you are dedicating 5 years to this, so be sure you are choosing a university in a location that will be enjoyable for you!

I will leave you with a few final words that were shared with me and greatly influenced my final decision:

1. Do not let the fear of failure nor the fear of the unknown limit your decision.
2. Choose the experience that will challenge you. You have no idea what you are capable of until you try!
3. Hold your future loosely, be open minded, and enjoy the journey of becoming! It may look different than what you had planned, but I have found so much joy and excitement in watching a life I never imagined unfold!

Good luck on your journey!

Hi friends! Welcome back to our Hart Center blog, where we’re keeping you in the loop on how to find your perfect career. Check out our last post to read our interviews with two seniors who landed their dream jobs. 

According to a Glassdoor report (s/o to numbers people like me, the report is actually really interesting and you can read it here), the average job attracts 250 resumes and only 2% of people are interviewed. With odds like these, you need to be prepared to nail your job search. To help you prepare, we’re looking at some of the job market’s toughest statistics and responding with detailed tips to help you put your best foot forward. 

Today, we’re focusing on resumes. As always, email us with questions and schedule an appointment with the career advisors at the Hart Center when you’re ready to get help on your resume.

Tough Statistic: Recruiters take an average of 6 seconds to scan a resume (Glassdoor).

Our Response: We read some resumes in 6 seconds. Turns out, it’s tough. You need to hand everything to the recruiter so that they can see why you’re the perfect candidate in under six seconds. By “everything”, here’s what we mean. Every entry, bullet point, and word needs to serve a purpose: why is your education/job experience/project/leadership position valuable and how did you fill that role perfectly? 

Start with a Hart Center, Cox, or Hegi resume template. Choose the best template according to the industry you want to enter, e.g., use the Hart template if you’re pursuing an engineering role or see the Hegi link for a pre-health example. If you’re open to multiple industries, consider creating multiple resumes. 

Craft every line on your resume. This is the most important step. Start every bullet with a descriptive action word (check out this list for ideas). Include data points, like dollars, statistics, etc., whenever possible (preferably in every line) to describe your role precisely. To see how these tips work, check out these examples from my resume.

     Old: Work on team with an additional mechanical engineer to create user-friendly kidney stone prevention device

     New: Headed development of at-home kidney stone prevention device to save $17,000+ in medical expenses per user

     Old: Own and manage personal business and related activities

     New: Coached children ages 3+ at various swimming skill levels, working with more than 200 families across 5 years

Ask people you trust to review your resume. Nothing is worse than looking back at a job application and seeing that you submitted your resume with a grammatical error (unfortunately, I know from experience). Run your resume by friends and parents or schedule an appointment at the Hart Center to have your resume reviewed. You need a second set of eyes to ensure your document flows well and is free of grammatical errors.

Ask someone in your desired industry to review your resume. When you’re sure your resume is (almost) perfect, connect with someone in your desired industry and ask them to review your resume. They’ll be able to provide specific feedback on how to best present yourself to recruiters in that industry.

In my experience, there’s no silver bullet to finding your perfect job match. However, there are a few ways to jumpstart your career search: build a killer resume, solidify your online presence, figure out how you add value to a company, and get good at networking. Over the summer, dedicate some extra time to refining your career search processes, and schedule an appointment at the Hart Center for resume reviews, mock interviews, and offer negotiations. 

Hi friends! Welcome back to our Hart Center blog, where we’re keeping you in the loop on how to find your perfect career. If you’re a graduate student, check out Ophelie’s post about the Graduate Leadership Certificate Program and Odyssey plans.

According to a Glassdoor recruiting report (s/o to numbers people like me, the report is actually really interesting and you can read it here), the average job attracts 250 resumes and only 2% of people are interviewed. With odds like these, you need to be prepared to nail your job search. To show you what works, we interviewed* two Lyle seniors who secured jobs after graduation. Natalie Jacks and Kennedy Woodard are both graduating with degrees in mechanical engineering and mathematics. Natalie is pursuing a career in Management Consulting at Credera. Kennedy will be an Industrial Engineer at Boeing. Read about their journeys to a full time offer, and email us if you have any questions.

What student organizations, or activities are you involved in on campus?

Natalie: Society of Women Engineers (treasurer, vice president of external affairs, and president), Delta Gamma Sorority, Phi Beta Kappa, and Tau Beta Pi

Kennedy: National Society of Black Engineers (President), Kappa Mu Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority (Past President, member)

If you pursued on-campus jobs, internships/co-ops, or full-time employment, how did you discover the opportunity? What the interview process was like and how was your experience in the role?

N: I was lucky enough to have my summer internship turn into my full-time job. In October, I will start full-time with the consulting firm Credera as a Management Consultant.

I first learned about Credera sophomore year, through career fairs and info sessions at the Hart Center. During my junior year, I continued to attend all of Credera’s on-campus events, including a SWE event I helped plan, and got to know the recruiters so my name would be familiar the next summer when I applied. 

The interview process was one behavioral interview on campus and a full day of interviews (including a case interview) at their office. I knew the company was going to be a good fit based on how comfortable I felt with every Credera employee. I was able to talk with them honestly about my values and what I wanted to get out of my internship. While I certainly put my best foot forward, I didn’t feel the need to enhance or oversell aspects of myself to get the position. 

I had a wonderful experience during my summer at Credera. By the end of the summer I was leading the daily meetings for my 13-member team, including 8 members from our client company, and was working on slide decks to be presented to company execs.  I was so impressed by my time there that I had no hesitation in saying yes to my return offer.  

K: I’ve found all of my on-campus jobs through networking with faculty members or by applying on Handshake. On-campus jobs are easier to manage than off-campus jobs, because your employer understands you are a student first. On-Campus jobs are also great opportunities to network and reach out for letters of recommendation.

My connections through the Lyle Mentoring Program helped me get an internship at Boeing. It was not a local internship, so my two interviews took place over the phone. Boeing really gave interns the opportunity to explore the company in any way they’d like. I was able to network and earn a full-time offer to come back as an Industrial Engineer. 

What resources were most helpful to you when you looked for employment?

N: I learned a lot from attending SWE meetings as an underclassmen and hearing people speak about topics like how to network and how to write a resume. I attended all the career fairs starting my sophomore year in order to practice my elevator pitch and learn how the recruiting process worked. 

K: Career Fairs and programs specifically aimed at landing students a position (Mentor programs, Inroads, etc.) can help you build relationships. It is more effective to talk to people face-to-face about your skills and abilities, versus applying through an online portal.

Do you have any advice for an undergraduate student looking to get a job in the future?

N: Remember that you will find a position you are happy with. If there’s a company or industry you’re really passionate about, put in the work! Attend every event where you can interact with the employees from that company and help them get to know you as a person. You’d be surprised at how much name recognition can help you get your foot in the door.

K: Make networking a priority, be open to different positions, and pay attention to what employers are looking for! SMU has so many resources such as career fairs and student organizations like NSBE, SHPE, SWE, and TSPE that will bring companies out to speak to students. You never know where your network could lead you.

*interview answers were edited for clarity and flow. 

Hi there! My name is Ophelie Herve and this is the sixth year I have proudly called myself a Mustang! I participated in a variety of organizations and took advantage of many opportunities SMU offers throughout my time as an undergraduate and graduate student. However, the Graduate Leadership Certification Program led by Kathy Hubbard and sponsored by the Hart Center was the best extra-curricular activity I added to my already busy schedule. This year-long program facilitates leadership development for graduate students through leadership seminars, executive style coaching, and a team project. The program introduces the competencies found in the Hart Leadership Framework and provides leadership coaches to help students set and achieve professional goals. The community that forms among the diverse, vibrant, and small cohort of students creates a safe environment in which students can grow their leadership skills and abilities! It played a monumental role in my development as a person and professional over the course of the year. Let me highlight my favorite parts and share how I have seen myself positively change!

First, ODYSSEY PLANS. An odyssey plan, presented by Bill Burnet and Dave Evans in their outstanding book Designing Your Life, is a 5-year plan – but, plot twist: you make three. Yep, we created THREE alternative versions of the next five years of our lives!

1. The first is simply a continuation of the life you are already leading.
2. The second plan is supposed to be your “plan B.”
3. The third plan is the “wild one!” Imagine you had all the money and resources you needed…what would you do? Where would you go?

In a time of transition, as I move to UCLA to pursue my PhD in the fall, it was helpful to have a safe space to think about what I wanted the next five years to look like. I was able to envision the milestones I wanted to achieve in my academic career and dream about how I could incorporate my passions along the way to ensure a well-balanced and fulfilling life!

Although the first plan was insightful, the second and third plan unlocked a side of me I had suppressed for so long. Unknowingly, I had overlooked many of the dreams and aspirations that lay deep within me. I have put so much pressure on myself trying to make plan A happen thinking there is one life ahead of me. The odyssey plan exercise helped me realize that life is a series of right and left turns. There are many opportunities ahead of us that will each lead us to different experiences. There is no “best,” there is just “different”. How incredibly freeing!

This exercise enabled me to take ownership of my future! I discovered many ambitious dreams tucked away in my mind and became determined to execute them. During the spring semester, we had the opportunity to work with a career coach which was transformational as I learned how to pursue these goals actively. As a result, I have found a new sense of confidence in my leadership ability! And now, I am writing this blog post as a means of “prototyping” my passions. A lover of words and an amateur writer, the program has empowered me to say “yes” to things I never thought I would for the purpose of growth as a leader! Let the blogging begin!

Hi friends! Welcome back to our Hart Center blog, where we’re keeping you updated on the exceptional accomplishments of our students. If you missed last week’s welcome message, read it here (if you read it, you can see my dog).

There’s an story that, in 1899, the commissioner of the US patent office famously claimed “everything that can be invented has been invented.” It must be something about the turn of the century, because people thought the same thing when the 21^st century rolled around. Where would we go, if we had already invented everything? Of course, as engineers, we know innovation never ends. And the National Academy of Engineering agreed, so the Academy identified 14 Grand Challenges for Engineering in the 21st Century, including universal access to clean water, enhanced virtual reality, and advanced health informatics. Basically, every cool or useful thing that ever has been or will be invented is covered by these Challenges.

How do these Challenges relate to you? In March 2018, SMU joined over 70 cutting-edge engineering schools to offer the Grand Challenge Scholars Program (GCSP). Here’s the Sparknotes (find complete info here) of the program: apply > get accepted > select a Challenge > produce world-changing research.

We want to introduce you to one of our Scholars, Micah Oxner (PSA, she’s a super cool female in STEM). An inaugural member of the GCSP, she will graduate in May 2020 with degrees in Mechanical Engineering with biomed specialization and Applied Math with a minor in Health Sciences. As a Scholar, she researches the biologically inspired design of microrobots for targeted drug delivery. She also received funding through the Engaged Learning Fellowship and a Richter Fellowship to study breast cancer cell lines in microfluidic chips at the University of Aberdeen in Aberdeen, Scotland. Currently, Micah is applying to graduate school for Fall 2020 for her doctorate in Biomedical Engineering.

If Micah’s work doesn’t blow your mind, I don’t know what will. But our Scholars do more than produce exceptional research; they also travel, attend fantastic Scholars-only events, and have their own club! Last September, Micah flew to London to participate in the Global Grand Challenges Summit hosted by the Royal Academy of Engineering. In October, 3 Scholars traveled to D.C. to attend the 2019 NAE GCSP Annual Meeting at the National Academy of Engineering. The Hart Center offers a Scholars’ retreat and exclusive Scholars’ events throughout the semester. Cassie Hammond is the founder and incoming President of the new Grand Challenge Scholars Club, where Scholars will join together to participate in peer mentoring and personal development activities (plus, free food).

While stuck at home, I’ve had ample opportunities to think about how I can positively impact the world. If you’re looking for an opportunity to do the same, the Grand Challenge Scholars Program may be for you. If you are interested in researching game-changing challenges, look for the Grand Challenge Scholar application in the fall (all majors accepted). Email the Hart Center with any questions.

Stay safe and healthy. Pony Up, Mustangs!