With the current job market being highly competitive, students are feeling the pressure to stand out among other job applicants. To ease this pressure, Miami Herbert offers its sophomores a required, one-credit course that exposes them to professional development topics including the organization of a career search, resume and cover letter writing, job search mechanics, proper networking and interview strategies, salary negotiation tips and advice as to how to succeed in an internship or full-time role once secured. Additionally, the course structure provides opportunities for peer-to-peer mentoring through trained Professional Development Student Leaders (PDSLs), juniors and seniors who have had significant success in the internship search process, who train and mentor students in the course.
For many students, the course, MGT199/BUS211, has been a game-changer. Doménica Núñez del Arco, a sophomore from Guayaquil, Ecuador, double majoring in business analytics and computer science, was overwhelmed by the internship search process before taking the course, but now, feels much more prepared and confident.
“Applying for an internship, as a sophomore, can be very intimidating, especially for an international student with a limited knowledge and familiarity of the American business culture,” she said. “I was not able to rely on friends and family members for guidance, and consequently, felt at a disadvantage when trying to enter the workforce for the first time. But MGT199 follows a straightforward, step-by-step approach that demystifies the internship application process from the very beginning.”
The course not only provides practical skills and complements the University’s Toppel Career Center resources, but it also offers support to students as they navigate this stressful time.
“The course is meant to help cure the paralysis many students get when they approach a job or internship search,” said Mark Shapiro, assistant dean of undergraduate career development and professor of professional practice in business law, who created the course. “There’s a lot of baggage that goes into a job search—a lot of noise around what is a good job, what’s a bad one, students are worried about disappointing themselves and their parents. We are here to help them work through all of these obstacles while providing the tools to build a concrete road map for a job search.”
Shapiro admits that, occasionally, the course may even seem a little like group therapy, “because we acknowledge where this process is painful and work through it together.”
Shapiro describes the job-searching process as a complicated mix of macro and micro factors. During class, macro topics ranging from job searching, employer searches, networking, and salary negotiation are covered. The micro factors, addressed during one-on-one coaching and mentoring with the PDSLs, are the unique circumstances of each student, including their career aspirations, effective resume content and interviewing messaging.
“Career search is both micro and macro, so it was important to me that the course be more than a bunch of lectures,” he said. “I needed somebody to help me look at student resumes, conduct mock interviews, and give personalized feedback, so we developed ‘Professional Development student leaders (PDSLs),’ a group of high-achieving juniors and seniors who meet one-on-one with students.”
PDSLs go through a rigorous training and vetting process that begins in the summer and are matched with students according to the similarities in their job search.
“Being mentored first-hand by someone who has successfully gone through the same experiences is not only reassuring but empowering,” said Núñez del Arco. “Thanks to the advice from both my PDSL and Professor Shapiro, I feel I gained the self-confidence I needed to explore my own professional narrative and portray myself as a marketable candidate to potential employers.”
Shapiro, who was a full-time lawyer and partner at Akerman LLP for 20+ years before joining Miami Herbert full-time in 2015, saw an opportunity to help “coach up” students in terms of improving their interview skills, resume writing, and confidence in searching for jobs. At Akerman, he was heavily involved in associate hiring, mentoring, training, evaluation and promotion to partner, the summer internship program, and associate compensation, and he wanted to use that experience to help Miami Herbert students.
It started as a small project, the idea of then Vice Dean, now Interim Dean Ann Olazábal, with 30 to 50 students to coach, but when Shapiro saw himself with more than 450 student-coaching meetings every semester, he knew it was time to turn the project into a class.
“Although I’ve developed other courses, this one is by far the one I am most proud of because I know how difficult this process is for students and I know the anxiety and stress that can emerge from the job search process,” said Shapiro. “It can create feelings of failure, indecision, and insecurity, so to be able to debunk those negative thoughts, and turn this into a project engineering exercise that can be empowering to students rather than paralyzing, is an amazing thing to be a part of.”
Adding to the stress of entering the job market is the increasing use of A.I. in the hiring process. Fortunately, the course also teaches students how to tactically approach resume and interviewing with an eye toward software systems and A.I. as a preliminary screener of qualifications.
Sophomore Jimmy Bruder says the course taught him how to strategically approach his internship searches. The mix of lectures and one-on-one coaching helped him find the confidence to create a powerful, effective resume and to message C-suite executives.
"Prior to taking the course, I would blindly apply to internships through LinkedIn or company websites, hoping to get a reply,” Bruder said. “This led to very little success for me, and I felt helpless. After learning the importance of networking and how to sell yourself to recruiters and how to find them, the process became seamless and gave me a lot of confidence to keep going.”
In May, Bruder begins an internship with Vanguard’s corporate finance department focusing on either fund analysis or financial planning and analysis. He says the course helped him land the internship by helping him realize his full potential and abilities.
"I know I wouldn't have been able to do it without the skills and confidence I gained from the career preparedness course," he said.
Recently, Shapiro was awarded the Patricia Toppel Award, an award introduced in 2017 to recognize individuals, both on and off campus, who consistently make a positive impact on the work of the Toppel Career Center.
Recipients of the Patricia Toppel Award are selected by Toppel staff based on their long-term support and collaboration in Toppel's services.
“Through his exceptional dedication to our students and tireless career championing efforts, Mark embodies what the Patricia Toppel Award is all about,” said Olazábal. “His unwavering commitment to making a difference inspires us all, and we are proud to have him part of Miami Herbert’s faculty."
“This is such a well-deserved recognition for Professor Shapiro who devotes so much of his time helping our students achieve their career aspirations,” added Linda Neider, professor and Management Department chair at Miami Herbert. “We are grateful for all he contributes to our department curriculum and to the School.”
