After taking a mid-summer break, The Executive Path blog is back! Here is the first installment of my two-part interview with Maxine Todd, the Assistant Director of the Marilyn Davies College of Business (MDCOB) Career Center at University of Houston-Downtown (UHD).
Maxine, tell us about your journey that led you to the UHD Marilyn Davies College of Business Career Center. What made you say yes to UHD?
It was time for a change, so I thought, hmm, how about building personal brands for a while. I spent 30+ years (started as an infant) in the media business, building, managing and consulting radio stations across the country. I love building brands of any kind, from the qualitative
research, understanding audience preferences in a given market, to launching the brand and hiring the air talent to deliver the brand on-air. A big part of that is building community partnerships and seeing the results of those efforts in those communities. [As part of my work] in Dallas, Houston, Charlotte and Norfolk markets, I committed to raising awareness for HIV/AIDS, still to this day, there are needs for both children and adults who suffer from the virus.
How long have you worked at UHD's MDCOB Career Center?
Just over 10 years now I have been right here at the UHD MDCOB Career Center.
A decade is incredible. What do you find inspiring about UHD and/or your work?
A part of my role as Assistant Director is not only Graduate Career Coaching, but I also handle Employer Relations for the office. Introducing new companies to our business student talent is a joy. Over the last 10 years, we've grown employer participation in our career fairs by 352 new companies. Hiring is happening!
What have you learned from students over the years?
It doesn't matter what socio-economic background you come from: you have to believe in yourself in order to sell yourself to others. Hiring managers love those who are confident in their abilities, driven, articulate and display an unwavering focus on achievement and love of learning.
What do you wish more people knew about UHD's students?
Their work ethic. I always say, you do not have to baby-sit a UHD Gator. They typically have previous work experience; they aren't afraid to put in the extra work and they are disciplined. Working, going to school and managing a family life has its challenges, but our students meet those challenges with such a positive attitude.
What do you wish more students knew about the Career Center?
We have students that work at the Big Four accounting firms, Google, Microsoft and other major corporations. Many of those opportunities came about by those students working with our Center and our [staff] getting connected with alumni working at these companies. We are a humble, dedicated staff, in terms of nothing makes us happier than to help a student with their career goals, and then reaching that dream job or internship. I find that those students who are plugged into the Career Center seem to have the most success prior to graduation in landing a job or internship. Houston is a competitive market for students, and we have other large universities here outside of UHD, so recruiters have an expectation of the student being polished and prepared.
What are your top three accomplishments that you feel most proud of?
Growing our employer base and employer partnership through underwriting, teaching the huge value of networking to MBA students in graduate classrooms, and finally, the biggest reward, are the emails and cards students and alumni thanking me for helping them on their career journey.
Thank you doing such great work in the MDCOB Career Center, Maxine!
Next up: Part Two of Maxine's interview, on three crucial skills every job seeker should practice.
The Executive Path is the official blog of the University of Houston-Downtown's MBA Program. For further information on the UHD MBA Program, you may find our webpage at Houston's MBA Program (uhd.edu). For the upcoming calendar of virtual Information Session links, click MBA Information Session (uhd.edu). Contact Us (uhd.edu) to reach the UHD MBA Office.
Read the June 2024 newsletter written by the Career Center graduate students at UHD's Marilyn Davies College of Business.
Thanks for stopping by our blog, and stay tuned for more posts to come!
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