Professional Buzz

Professional Buzz is a blog warehousing relevant information, tips and tools for students and professionals looking for career development and advice. Topics range from leadership and management skills to interpersonal communication and innovation in the workplace. The blog is written and curated by Associate Dean of the Graduate College, Anne Converse Willkomm – drawing on her academic and professional experience to provide insight into the latest professional trends, challenges and skills needed to thrive in today’s everchanging workplace.

What It Takes to Be an Entrepreneur

After combing through lists of characteristics shared by entrepreneurs, I started asking myself: What do these characteristics really mean?

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How to Know When Your New Job is Not a Good Fit

You’re two or three months into your new job. You have the right skill sets, your new boss is happy with your performance, the pay is good, and the commute is easier, BUT…

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Handwritten words: "Corporate Culture" written on a white board

Will I Be a Good Fit

The culture at one company, even if they produce the same product, can be drastically different from another. This corporate culture is defined by what the company values, which then dictates how it operates, and how its employees interact and communicate with one another.

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Image of multi-colored boxes with career search related terms in each box

Cool Career Tool

Drexel’s Steinbright Career Development Center has put together a great tool to help students, alumni, and guests navigate through the various pieces of the job search process. There are seven options from which to choose, ranging from Interviewing to Developing my professional self. Begin your career search here with this highly informative tool.

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Image of a lake during the winter with a small island reflecting on the calm water.

End of year reflection

As we head into the holidays, most of you will have holiday parties and family gatherings to attend. Many of you will take a few extra days to reboot before starting the new year on the 2nd or 3rd of January, and number of you will create a list of New Year’s resolutions. This is also a great time to evaluate your career goals.

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Are You Listening

One of the first lessons we are taught in Kindergarten is to listen, but somewhere between those early formative years and when we become adults, many of us seem to forget that lesson. Lee Iacocca, former CEO of Chrysler Corporation, said, "I only wish I could find an institute that teaches people how to listen. Business people need to listen at least as much as they need to talk. Too many people fail to realize that real communication goes in both directions."

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Focusing on the Elderly Consumer Segment

Given Black Friday was just a few days ago and we are now full swing into the holiday shopping season, I thought I would share my thoughts on a recent McKinsey&Company article/podcast entitled, Getting to know urban elderly consumers. It should be no surprise the over-55 set is growing – they are, after all, the baby boomers. But what this article points out is that this consumer group is not well-understood, nor is it generally targeted.

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Black Friday

The term Black Friday has nothing to do with the day retail stores move into the black, meaning they start earning profits. The term actually originated right here in Philadelphia!

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Creating a job search plan

Getting a job is a lengthy process and it requires a well-thought-out plan. I recently had the opportunity to sit down with Kim Neubauer who is a Senior Career Counselor at Lee Hecht Harrison and a Resume Coach here at Drexel in the LeBow College of Business. We talked in depth about the job search process.

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Veterans Are Invaluable Assets

Finding a job as a vet can be difficult. According to Military.com, employers often do not view veterans’ skills as transferrable, they prejudice veterans based on stereotypes, they worry that veteran employees can be deployed again in the future, or they believe veterans won’t acclimate well, especially in corporate America.

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Image of the Boston, Federal Street old Bank of Boston Building (now Bank of America)

Communication is Key to a Corporate Reorg

A corporate reorganization often instills fear, anxiety, and paranoia in people, which then results in miscommunication, distraction, and even depression. In the October 2016 edition of the McKinsey Quarterly, Rose Beauchamp, and the authors of ReOrg: How to Get It Right (Harvard Business Review Press, November 2016), Stephen Heidari-Robinson and Suzanne Heywood take a look at how communication plays a significant role in effectively and compassionately managing a corporate reorganization.

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