Nike, Cummins, and Celanese Are Just a Few Companies that Target BYU MBAs For Internationals and Foreign Language Speaking Graduates and Interns

Nike, Cummins, and Celanese are a just a handful of companies that come to BYU primarily looking for international students and students who are fluent in a foreign language. The companies sponsor internationals and have their eye on students who come from or have a language skill from Brazil, Russia, China, and India.

The CEO of Celanese is a BYU graduate and considers BYU a core school along with Harvard, Darden, and Texas. This year 5 of the 12 internship offers were extended to BYU students, three of which were internationals.

Cummins has a long relationship with BYU and loves to take students from the BRIC countries. Three international students accepted offers. Also, U.S. students who have a foreign language skill and a great understanding of the culture are seen as a big plus.

Nike is a new edition to BYU. The company has it eye on the BYU MBA program because Brazil is becoming a big target for the company and BYU has many Brazilian nationals and U.S. students who speak the language and understand the culture.

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Investment Banks Find MBA Level Talent at BYU

BYU MBA finance students are impressing many of the biggest investment banks and receiving internship offers for the summer of 2011. BYU MBA's received offers from Barclays, Credit Suisse, Wells Fargo Securities, and Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

A big factor are two MBA programs: The Silver Fund and Cougar Capital.

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Amazon.com Loves BYU MBA's

Amazon.com has extended offers to eight BYU MBA's for summer internships across a broad range of disciplines including marketing, supply chain, operations, and finance. The relationship between the BYU MBA program and Amazon has grown stronger over the past three years as more students are finding full-time and internship placement within the organization.

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Nestle Heavily Recruits BYU MBA's in 2011

Nestle, one of the largest food and nutrition companies in the world, looks to the MBA program at Brigham Young University to find talent to fill full-time and internship positions.

This year three MBA marketing students will head to St. Louis for the summer as part of the brand management internship program in the Nestle Purina division.

Also, a graduating student will be heading to San Fransisco to accept a job as a brand manager working for Nestle's ice cream division. Another graduate student will head to Los Angeles to also work as a brand manager in the confection division which includes the Willy Wonka brand, Butter Finger, and all other Nestle candy.

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Chocolate Boxes and Internships

Though I'm not a huge Tom Hanks fan, I'm not shy about pulling an analogy from Forrest Gump in how life is full of surprises. In the movie titled after the main character, Forrest relates to a stranger how his mother always compared life to a box of chocolates, asserting that you never know what you're going to get when you bite into a random sample. Obviously, they didn't buy Whitman's, but that's another story.

I've found the same to be true in my own life and, in particular, through the travail of finding that ideal summer internship. I'll share my story in hopes to inspire future first-years that things really do work out, and quite often not as you expected.

I knew I had a different path from the start. Being in tech marketing, my search was very different from other marketers looking for roles in CPG or Retail. Tech starts their recruiting season much later and causes much higher stress levels to the spouses of students looking for tech internships. Fairly early in the game, I interviewed with Adobe in Orem. The series of interviews went well and I received an internship offer around the turn of the year. I was convinced that it would be a great opportunity (and still think it would have been in many ways) and was on the verge of accepting it... until we took our Tech Trek to the Bay Area. The experience there was eye-opening, and I decided that the best thing for my career path would be to get out of Utah. I was particularly interested in getting to Silicon Valley and started looking at options there.

I couldn't keep Adobe on hold any longer, and took a big leap of faith when I declined their offer. Through feeling out different companies, I decided to focus on two that I felt were a best-fit for my personality and goals: Amazon and eBay. I could go on for a while explaining the "why" behind those, two, but I'll forebear.

While still waiting for internship requisitions to open up at eBay, some good news came from Amazon in late February. I was contacted to go through a first round of phone interviews. That was when things got a little interesting.

First off, the recruiter sent a confirmation email referencing a cell phone number that I had not used for 3 years. I wrote him to correct it and asked how they got it. It turns out, I had an old Amazon profile. I updated the phone number with the recruiter and on my outdated Amazon careers profile and forgot about the incident. That is, I forgot about it until the phone interview came. As is common, one of the interviewer's first questions for me was to walk me through the resume. Having rehearsed this a good number of times with my Sherpa, Rick, I confidently started with "Well, I graduated with a degree in Spanish..." and ended with "... and that's when I knew it was time to come back for the MBA. And I've loved it here."

I was surprised to hear his reply, "Wait... so, you're going back to get an MBA?"

"No," I answered, "I'm about to finish my first year of school. I'm looking for a summer internship."

"The SFA (Senior Financial Analyst) role?"

"Actually, marketing / retail management."

"Hmm. Well, let's go on with the interview anyway."

The interview actually went really well and the follow-up (Amazon does back-to-back phone interviews) interview was very similar. "Tell me about yourself." "I'm Lewis...Spanish...Online Marketing...MBA..." "Oh, you're marketing?" "Yeah." "Well, let's interview anyway."

I contacted the recruiter to clarify things and they promptly rectified it and set me up with some marketing interviews. I kind of knew pretty quickly that they weren't going quite as well. One of them was just nightmarish (I got put on mute several times, making it impossible to get a read on the interviewer).

About a week later I heard back from Amazon's HR department. They told me that, not surprisingly, marketing wasn't very impressed but that the SFA guys were interested - pending my interest in finance. "Finance?" I thought to myself. "Why not?" I agreed to a follow up interview, which also went surprisingly well. Then, just a short 2 days later, they extended an offer.

The moral of the story? Sometimes the path is twisted and completely not what you would have assumed it would be. But hang in there because things work out. Life really is like a box of chocolates, just hopefully with a lower concentration of saturated fats.

Lewis Gunter, Class of 2012, Marketing

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Three Secrets to Nailing the Internship

You have edited your resume 20 times, written 10 STAR stories, practiced interviewing dozens of times, made a dumb comment during an informational meeting, been rejected by your top company, cried, prayed, cursed the MBA program, prayed again, found a new ‘top’ company, and finally received that beautiful call with the long awaited words, “We would like to extend you an offer!” Now you are happy again—you love the MBA program.

So what’s next? Now you must nail the internship!

After surveying several second-year MBA’s, I believe I have discovered Three Secrets to Nailing the Internship—

1. Make Getting an Offer Your Goal

2. Impress Your Manager

3. Network Strategically

Make Getting an Offer Your Goal:

“A successful intern is one who starts an internship knowing their primary goal isn't to 'learn a lot' or 'develop new skills,' but instead knows that their primary goal is to 'get an offer' at the end of the summer.” –Tara Hair, Interned at P&G

I asked a few first year students to share what their primary goal is for their internship this summer. The most popular answers were—“add value,” “create a network,” “learn,” “gain experience,” and “do a good job.” I don’t have statistics to show how important it is to have “getting an offer” as your primary goal. However, I do have a relevant story I want to share from an alumnus who interned at his “dream” company. This individual’s main goal was to do well on his projects throughout the summer, so he spent most of his time in his office perfecting them. At the end of his internship, though people were impressed with his work, he didn’t get an offer. He hadn’t done what the company expected from an intern. The point of this story is not that you shouldn’t do a great job or learn new skills. The point is that after all your efforts what you really want is a job, not just a pat on the back. Therefore, make that your goal.

Vital behaviors to implement:

· Ask your manager, “What do I have to do to get an offer?”

· At least bi-weekly, ask for feedback to see if you’re on track to landing a full-time offer.

· Before each decision, ask yourself, “Will this help me get an offer?”

Impress Your Manager

“You have to learn how to manage your boss. You have to understand your boss's style of preferred communication and delivery methods. If you don't clearly understand them, you are unlikely to be successful. You need to tailor your work style and work outputs to match what your boss is looking for.” Mark Lingenbrink, Interned at Cisco

Your manager has the most say on whether you get an offer. Crucial Conversations professor, Kerry Patterson, teaches that your main role as an employee, whether you like your manager or not, is to “make your manager look good.” Learn what your manager really needs and deliver it in a manner he/she approves and this will increase your chances of securing an internship.

Vital behaviors to implement:

· Before you begin any assignment, ask for clear directions, results, and deadlines.

· Look for simple “extra” projects your manager needs done and volunteer to do them.

· Before diving into a difficult problem, run your action plan by your manager.

Network Strategically

“As important (if not more) as the actual work that you do are the relationships that you make. I was able to connect with 50 – 60 individuals at various levels of the company simply by reaching out.” Mike Christensen, Interned at P&G

The third and most common way to secure an internship is to network (of course it is; we wouldn’t want to ruin the reputation of business students worldwide). One successful networking strategy I applied during my internship at Microsoft, was taking advantage of the “intern status.” I could send anyone an email stating I was an intern and they would make time to meet with me. As a result, I interviewed several VP’s, General Managers, Directors, and CFO’s. Another strategy is to ask for advice and be coachable. People love to help and coach others and because they’ve been at the company much longer than you, they will be able to steer you in the right direction. Lastly, remember to be proactive. I was fortunate enough to receive a list of 30 individuals, who my manager had handpicked, to network with over the summer. Since most interns will not have this luxury, create your own list of influencers you want to meet. Remember you are always being evaluated. The more people you learn from and network with, the more people you will have advocating your full-time offer!

Vital behaviors to implement:

· Make a list of people you want to interview and contact at least 2-3 of them per week.

· As people offer advice, act on it and send them an email telling them what you learned.

· Find people who have accomplished similar projects and strive to learn all you can.


Edgar Cheney, Class of 2011, OB/HR

Interned at: Microsoft

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The Ride of Your Life

If you are entering the program this fall, and are nervous about landing the perfect internship, you are not alone. All MBA students in the program have felt this way at one time or another. But, don’t worry; there is hope.

The internship search can be a rollercoaster ride. One minute you are on top of the world after getting an interview with a company you are interested in and the next you are feeling dejected when that same company turns you down for an offer. For this reason, I asked a few second-year MBA students who each landed phenomenal internships late in the winter semester last year to share some ideas on what they did after their first, second, third, (and so on) choices for internships fell through. I have included some of their ideas and some additional thoughts below.

1. Stay focused on your goal and maintain the right perspective. Speaking of keeping the right perspective, one student said “There are so many fantastic companies that don‘t recruit at BYU. One of the main reasons why so many great companies do recruit at BYU is because people found internships at a company that didn‘t recruit here and left a good impression. Not getting an internship with a company that recruits at BYU is a wonderful opportunity to open doors for BYU and make a difference for yourself and future students.” Another student I spoke with said “last year I didn‘t have anything once finals were over but I kept looking and ended up with five offers.” Stay focused on your end-goal and maintain a positive attitude. The results will come.

2. Continue to practice and maintain a sense of urgency. Be humble enough to seek guidance and help from others in your internship search. Take advantage of the insights, expertise, and feedback that your Sherpa, second year mentor, can give to you. But, don’t stop there. Reach out to other first or second year students that can give you different perspectives, feedback, and suggestions. Keep networking and practicing your interviews. You need to be prepared when an opportunity presents itself.

3. Use the alumni database and the Holy Grail (Excel spreadsheet filled with connections to hundreds of companies). Speaking of using the alumni database, one student said “I sent dozens and dozens of emails out and likewise did dozens of informational interviews with people at my top companies, who I found through the alumni database and the Holy Grail…each of these contacts helped me understand the company better.”

4. Last but not least, never give up. Keep working hard. Never stop talking to people inside and out of the MBA program about your internship search. You will get out of the internship search what you put into it.

I love the scripture in Ether 12:6 that states, “Ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith”. If we persevere and have faith through tough times and trials, the Lord will eventually bless us. This certainly applies to the rollercoaster ride otherwise known as the internship search process. Stay positive, keep working hard, and put your trust in the Lord. The blessings will surely follow.

Mark Lingenbrink, Class of 2011, OB/HR

Interned at: Cisco

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An Ordinary MBA Summer

My summer started pretty early. On April 22nd I was on a plane directed south. After 30 hours (I was lucky to find 3 open seats in a row and I actually slept on a flight for the first time in my life), and after seeing Dallas and Santiago, Chile, from the clouds, we landed in Asuncion, Paraguay. And by us I mean Jeff Baxter, soon to be nicknamed Compañero Jeff, and me.

After a couple of days in the capital we were “abducted” and found refuge in a wonderful little house in the middle of the jungle. We spent 4 weeks there: it was an incredible experience!

a sight of the main square of the school from the main office

We had been blessed with a great education during our first year in the MBA; but even a greater blessing was to be able to apply these concepts and provide very useful suggestions for Fundacion Paraguaya. Fundacion Paraguaya is a non-profit organization whose ultimate purpose is to free people from poverty through work and business. In particular we consulted for their Agricultural School in Cerrito. They teach agricultural principles to teenagers and sell the outcomes of their work (vegetables, milk, cheese). They are struggling. We ran a deep analysis of their business and realized that their main and most pressing problem was the sales method. They weren’t reaching enough people because they didn’t have the right materials. They needed carts to help them carry their products and it was our desire to help them make the carts.

me, Alison (MPA) and a bunch of local kids (indigenous local population)

Jeff is an amazing engineer: do you think that for the team leader of the BYU racing car team (182 MpH!) it is too hard to build 3 carts? Well, without the right material and tools it was a challenge. But we made it! The 3 carts allowed them to touch between 200% and 300% of their customers in the same amount of time!

Jeff working and me zoolandering

Time to say goodbye came soon and I flew back to Utah. But just for 2 days! Then a lone drive to Palo Alto, CA, where I started working for Apple, in its Applecare group—Global Commodity Management to be precise. It was challenging but fun. Apple is not how they describe it. It is better. They are super lean, fast, entrepreneurial, innovative and love their customers.

Of course if I talked about what I did I’d have a Job’s SWAT team blasting my door in 5-10 minutes... So all I will tell you is that they had an amazing cafeteria! Great food.

And Palo Alto weather? Are you kidding me? Constant 80 degrees? Made the swimming pool and the Jacuzzi in the complex so much more valuable.

The last week of my summer was a road trip back from California. I still don’t understand how we could drive (with two friends from Italy) for 2,500 miles in 8 days! Bay Area, Santa Cruz, San Francisco, Muir Woods, Yosemite, Sequoia, Vegas (in bed at 9.30), Lake Powell, Antelope Canyon, Monument Valley, Mesa Verde, Moab, Arches, Monticello (ok we only slept there) and Provo. Awesome!

Antelope Canyon, AZ

In the end... a great ordinary MBA summer! You’ll hear many like mine. :)

Andrea Cordani, Supply Chain, Class of 2011

Interned at: Apple

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Is it easy to find an internship/job coming from BYU?

I mentioned in another post that the one thing I think incoming students can do to prepare for their MBA, is to begin the career search now. The first semester of school is a huge refining process for most MBA’s in terms of their job-finding skills, and gaining an understanding of the process early on, as well as answering some fundamental questions about personal career goals, can make a big difference and give you a leg up.

Is it tough to get hired out of BYU? It really depends. You’ll hear from our recruiting teams that these are hard times, that employers have cut back, that even students at top 10 schools are having a more difficult time finding internships due to economic pressures. Though true that may be, I really get the sense that BYU has always had a challenge approaching top-tier employers. Now, that’s more true for some tracks than others – tracks = fields of business study such as finance or marketing – but generally speaking, top employers tend to skim from the top around here (if you catch my meaning). A lot of students seriously struggle to find work in the areas and at the companies they’re after. Now, typically if they’re willing to adjust their goals, they’ll find a world of opportunity before them. It may really just depend on how ambitious you are, how prepared you are, and (admittedly) how gifted you are.

That was the not-so-great news. Here’s the good news: many top companies take BYU very seriously, and we always seem to place people in some of the most coveted jobs year in and year out. If you’re prepared, have the right experience, and generally fit the bill, you’ll have a solid shot at just about anywhere you want to go from here. It may take a lot of work. I can guarantee you’ll need some solid networking (relationship-building) skills and maybe a little luck. But students do it every year. And just remember this when you get your dream job: your co-workers likely paid multiples of the cost of your MBA, and you’re getting the same pay as they are!

-Merritt Aho, Marketing, Class of 2011

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