Two speakers from the prominent consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton on Tuesday, April 19 took questions from Smith students and talked about interviewing and resumes.
The Operations Management Society and Smith School Women’s Society hosted Maryland alumna Anya Kroupnik and Dickinson College graduate Luda Palei who conducted a mock interview and gave a crowd of 13 students tips for making their resumes stand out and.
“With consulting, it doesn’t matter what major you are. It’s really about your critical thinking, your analysis, and how you bring yourself forward,” said Krupnik, who works in supply chain management at Booz Allen Hamilton. “It’s all about how you’re able to apply your knowledge.”
The speakers said that when it comes to resumes, less is more.
“Keep it to one page because, really, they just want to glance,” said Palei. “They aren’t going to sit there and read through every single word you have on your resume.”
Kroupnik told students to be prepared and confident in listing their strengths at interviews by drawing on experience in the college setting.
“Have a few examples of team projects you have participated on and ways you excelled,” she said. “Have these few examples of what you did well and you will have a way to throw it in the interview.”
Representatives from the Operations Management Society said the event would provide students to learn from the employees of a major company.
“Booz Allen is a big name, and we were sure that it would attract a lot of students,” said Vice President of Marketing for the Operations Management Society Rishabh Bajekal. “We really wanted to present them the opportunity to meet people from Booz Allen and have that experience and ask questions.”
Junior accounting major Kurtashia Murray said she came out to learn more about Booz Allen Hamilton and the operations management. She said that, though the turnout was small, she would still attend the Operations Management Society elections next week.
“It was good, but it could do better,” she said. “They have elections next week, so I think I’m definitely going to come out.”
Bajekal said that the event offered students interested in operations management a viable career option.
“Consulting is actually a really good place to end up if you’re doing operations management because companies come to consulting companies and ask ‘can you do this in a more efficient manner,'” he said. “You are going with an actual data-driven, analytical basis, and you have real results to show.”