career changers use plus projects to build résumés

By Chantelle Wallace

Each semester, the MBA Plus Program partners with top Fortune 500 companies and nonprofits to create projects for full-time MBA students. Challenged with the unique opportunity to solve a real problem faced by the partner organization, student teams gain insights into new industries and corporate cultures. Here, three team captains—who are all planning career changes—describe how their Plus projects are helping them transition to new industries and find a new career niche. 

Finance to Marketing

Jane Hsin, MBA ’08, led a team of seven MBA students charged with helping the new Round Rock IKEA store saturate Austin’s college student market. Through market research and interviews with service associates, the team identified a way for the store to meet key needs of this market segment—one-stop shopping and student discounts.

“We have learned that students purchase furniture and accessories from a variety of retail stores,” Hsin says. “We believe students can benefit from the one-stop shopping and possible discounts IKEA is able to offer.” To appeal to this market, the team recommended that IKEA hold an annual or semi-annual campus event.

Prior to enrolling at McCombs to pursue a career in marketing, Hsin was a Bank of America center manager in St. Louis. Hsin says working on the Plus project strengthened her leadership skills, and the real-world marketing experience involved in developing and implementing a marketing plan has been invaluable in her new career quest.

Marketing to Consulting

Leah MacDougal, MBA ’08, and her team explored the economic viability of switchgrass as a fuel feedstock for consulting giant McKinsey & Co. Switchgrass is a plant native to prairies and has recently gained media attention for its potential as an alternative biofuel.

The team’s research for the management consulting company indicated that switchgrass has the potential to become a mainstream biofuel within 15 years. The students examined implementation roadblocks, including its technical feasibility, commercial viability and impact on industry and society.

MacDougal’s group supervisor, Chris McClung, MBA ’05, says the McCombs team helped his company think about the economic feasibility of using switchgrass. “We view our discussions with the team as problem-solving sessions where we all think through the challenges together,” he says.

As a former Deloitte employee and Plus veteran himself—he participated in three projects during his McCombs tenure—McClung used the projects to enhance his knowledge in industries he had not been exposed to before.

MacDougal’s Plus experience is similar. Before pursuing her MBA at McCombs, she was the national marketing manager for the Hanover Co., a national merchant builder of luxury apartments. Her involvement in Plus has given her a true consulting experience she can use after graduation.

“The project enabled us to experience the strategic thinking needed to be successful at a top consulting firm,” she says. “Additionally, the opportunity to work on a project for a top consulting firm gives us exposure to the expectations that principals and partners have of us once we graduate.”

Finance to Marketing

Priyanka Malhotra, MBA ’08, and her team worked with Coca-Cola’s Minute Maid brand to find ways to improve its relationship with independent store owners and learn what factors influence their product purchases. The team approached convenience store owners to understand how they decide to purchase non-carbonated beverages for retail sales. They used surveys, vendor interviews and information provided by market research firms in their search for relevant solutions.

“The students on my Plus team have experience in human resources, sales, marketing, engineering and finance,” says Veena Barrus, Coca-Cola’s senior brand manager for juices and emerging brands. “I am constantly impressed by the breadth of analysis and thought they bring to our project.”

Malhotra drew on her experience working in the asset liability branch of commercial banking. She returned to school for an MBA with an interest in transitioning her career to marketing. She says her team’s Plus project not only increased her marketing skills, it’s an excellent resume-builder. “It’s given me a deeper insight into consumer buying behavior beyond prices,” she says, adding that her teamwork and leadership skills also improved while working on this project.

Plus projects not only enable students to work on real business issues, they often provide a glimpse into the way corporate teams function. “It is great to watch the team dynamic form over the course of the semester,” says Barrus. “It’s very similar to the way our own cross-functional teams work inside the Coca-Cola Co.”