From Finance on Wall Street—and Times Square—to supply chain management on Long Island, students in the Robert B. Willumstad School of Business experience industries on-site.
The Robert B. Willumstad School of Business job shadowing program connects students with corporate or industry partners to learn about the industry and what a day in the life of an employee is like. It’s a tailored experience that includes tours and networking opportunities, while providing on-site looks at company partners’ daily operations and procedures.
“The job shadowing program, led by the business school’s career services specialist, Ericka Wishin, provides students with valuable exposure to various industries and career paths. It is a key element of our business school’s experiential learning initiatives,” said Willumstad School Dean MaryAnne Hyland, PhD.
As part of the Robert B. Willumstad School of Business job shadowing program, students toured the Nasdaq stock exchange in Manhattan. Photo credit: Nasdaq
Behind the Scenes at Nasdaq
In May, 12 students in the Willumstad School of Business job shadowing program, along with Cem Karatas, DBA, clinical assistant professor in the Department of Finance and Economics, were treated to a personalized tour of the Nasdaq stock exchange.
The tour was coordinated by Ericka Wishin, who worked with Vanja Savic ’18, a Nasdaq senior marketing associate and Willumstad alumna. Dr. Karatas reported that “The students not only learned about the business, but also learned about the career backgrounds of some of the Nasdaq employees.”
A highlight of the tour, for both students and professor, was watching the day’s closing bell ceremony live from the second floor. Madina Tuktina, now a senior, noted that the closing bell ceremony was “an exciting experience that highlighted Nasdaq’s role in the global financial markets.”
Reinforcing an Interest in a Dynamic Industry
Tuktina is pursuing a concentration in marketing at Willumstad and a major in statistics at Adelphi’s College of Arts and Sciences. She said the tour gave her an understanding of “the operations behind Nasdaq’s trading platform, technological advancements they use to ensure market efficiency and security, and the company’s rich history. As someone interested in data analytics, I was surprised by the level of automation and the sheer volume of data processed in real time.”
Tuktina, who hopes to work in the financial sector after she graduates, reported that the Nasdaq job shadowing experience “reinforced my interest in finance and technology—and I’m excited about the opportunities to contribute to this dynamic industry.”
Meeting Supply Chain Student Interests
Also, this past spring, a dozen students took the opportunity to visit Radienz Living, a manufacturer of personal care products, in Commack, New York, for a unique job shadowing tour that consisted of an overview of the business, a tour of the plant, and a Q&A session.
Dr. Hyland said that Eunji Lim, PhD, associate professor of decision sciences and marketing, introduced Career Services Specialist Ericka Wishin to Mark Tempkin, senior director, demand, supply and inventory planning, and sales and operations planning, at Radienz Living. Then Wishin “arranged the plant tour and made sure that students were professionally prepared and had transportation to and from the plant.”
Ashritgovind Pawar, the group’s student leader, who expects to earn his master’s degree in supply chain management in December, noted that the company supplies face and baby tissues as an official vendor for Johnson & Johnson.
“During our tour of Radienz Living, we learned about their product lines and manufacturing processes directly from their ground-level professionals,” he reported.
Pawar was impressed by the cleanliness of Radienz Living’s manufacturing process, their overall working style, and its commitment to customer satisfaction and loyalty measured by upholding vendors’ key performance indicators.