Resume Building Workshop with Chase Career Center

Chase Career Center Coach, Pam Mathison joined us for our meeting today to give us insightful information on resume building and more. She works in the Chase Career Center as one of the Resume Coaches to make sure Isenberg students feel confident and comfortable with their self-brand. Students can book appointments with Chase Career Center Coaches to go over several topics relevant to a career opportunity. She went over the following topics:

  • Chase Career Center Overview

  • Resume Best Practices

  • SMART Method Overview

  • Career Fair Plus Overview

  • Networking Tips and Resources

  • Chase Coaches & Career Peers

In preparation for the upcoming Isenberg Career Fair on September 30, we gained amazing tips on navigating the virtual fair and the platforms being used. Networking virtually is definitely new to everyone whether you are a returning or incoming student. Pam eased the pre-fair stress that many of us all had! Be sure to follow up with a career coach to become further comfortable with going to the career fair and follow the checklist they have posted on their website! Thank you Pam for all of the helpful advice and good luck to everyone attending the fair!

WiB Alumni Panel

Welcome back!

To kick off the fall semester, we brought back the following WiB Alumni to talk about their post-graduate experiences and any obstacles they have had to overcome in these unprecedented times:

Carly Griffin - Class of 2018

Senior Customer Success Manager at Touchplan

carlyjeangriffin@gmail.com

Sam Boardman - Class of 2019

Account Manager at Signature Consultants

samanthaboardman@gmail.com

Haley Chupka - Class of 2020

MMDP Associate at Pratt & Whitney

hchupka@gmail.com

Emma Jopson - Class of 2020

Junior Data Engineer at MassMutual

emjopson@gmail.com

Mikaela Hensen - Class of 2020

Investment Banking Analyst at Cowen and Company

mikaela.hensen@cowen.com

Thank you to all of these amazing women for giving great advice and insight to our members on how they were able to get to where they are now, the pandemic’s affect on their living and working conditions, and how they were able to persevere during the current pandemic personally and professionally. We also learned from them the importance of taking care of ourselves regardless of unprecedented times such as focusing on mental and physical health. Everyone takes a unique path to get to where they want to be, some might partake in internships during college and others might have different plans. Our panelists were very informative of that and gave us all a fresh perspective of navigating careers as current college students!

Internship Panel

To start off the Spring Semester, our first meeting consisted of an Internship Panel featuring WIB E-Board members.

Their contact information is listed below:

Thank you to all of our panelists for providing their insights about their own, unique internship experiences and interview processes! Some big takeaways are to “Go for it” as our WIB motto states and be open to different opportunities. Utilize your connections and be willing to take on a challenge. Candidates who are willing to work hard and adapt are the ones these firms are looking for.

Professor Erin Tierney: Event Planning

Professor Tierney teaches for our Hospitality & Tourism Management Program here at Isenberg, specifically classes geared toward event planning. During this meeting, Professor Tierney spoke about her career path in event planning and how she got to her position today.

Tierney’s career path led her to travel all around the world. She began in Ireland as a graduate student but eventually ended up working in California, Hong Kong, Australia, and Denmark taking on many different roles.

    • Direct Management Group

    • Film Producer

    • Hong Kong Tourism Board

    • Australian Tourist Commission

    • Visit Denmark

    • Tumlare

    • Worldwide Events


What is Event Planning? Tierney describes Event Planning as planning an event from conception to clean up, coordinating all aspects of event, and making sure everyone has fun. The skills needed for event planning include 

    • Excellent time management skills

    • Passion and enthusiasm

    • Interpersonal skills

    • Flexibility

    • Energy

    • Eye for detail


Tierney also provided us with recommendations with how to work towards a career in event planning. Event planning takes a lot of creativity, but also adaptability when things don’t always go as planned. Some of her suggestions include:

    • Get involved

    • Network

    • Join a club or association

    • Try different jobs/internships

    • Try different hobbies

    • Challenge yourself

    • Continue to learn

    • Listen


If you have any questions about event planning or want to learn more from Professor Tierney, feel free to reach out to her at etierney@isenberg.umass.edu!

Isenberg Hacks

By: Rachel Hall


This week, E-Board Members Alyssa Towle and Tyler Spellman taught us a few Isenberg Hacks! 

Since enrollment for Spring 2020 has now begun, make sure you put your classes in your shopping cart and know when your enrollment time is so you register as soon as possible! Be sure to check course pre-requisite requirements before you put them in you shopping cart to be sure you can register in the class when its time. Some are only for certain majors or years and some require certain classes to be taken beforehand. Your enrollment time is based on your year and can be found on SPIRE. If you have class during your time, most professors are very accommodating so be sure to talk to them beforehand. 

You can also meet with any of the seven academic advisors before registering for your classes. If you are an Isenberg major, you can make an appointment at any time to discuss next semester plans and non-Isenberg students can walk in at anytime outside of registration and add/drop periods. Be sure to review your ARR, fill out your core and/or major requirement sheets and prepare questions before your appointment. If you don’t have an appointment before, give yourself lots of time in case you have to wait for an advisor to be available.

Your ARR (Academic Requirement Report) can be found on SPIRE. It’s super helpful for knowing what requirements you still need and which ones you already have covered. However, make sure to look at your major and core requirement checklists to be sure the ARR got it right! If anything is under the wrong requirement, just email and advisor and they can fix it for you.

When trying to override into classes, here’s a few things to keep in mind. The BBA core course override form is only for non-Isenberg students. If you are trying to override from within Isenberg into a class for another major, you can find these forms online or in the advising office, depending on the major. Classes outside Isenberg have their own override process, so be sure to contact the department for those classes.

The Breadth Requirement is a 21 credit requirement for classes outside of Isenberg. Only one of these courses can be an economics class. Lots of people take these courses while abroad as well. If you are taking a GenEd that fills a diversity (DU or DG) requirement and nothing else, this will count as well. One great tip is to make your GenEds Pass/Fail, so a D or better will get you a pass and won’t affect your GPA. If you do better in the class than you thought, you can revoke the pass/fail and it’ll fill a GenEd, and if not it will still count toward your Breadth. Keep in mind you can only do this once a semester.

If you’re applying into Isenber from another major, the info can be found online. Make sure you know the deadlines and the specific requirements for BBA, HTM, or Sport Management. Each one requires different predictor courses to take before applying and the soonest you can do this is your second semester of freshman year.

Declaring and changing your major from within Isenberg is super easy! Major declaration happens at the beginning of each semester and an email is sent out to all Isenberg students who are undeclared. To change your major from within Isenberg, simply go into the advising office and fill out a form. 

To book breakout rooms in the Hub (located on the second floor), just go to this link (https://www.isenberg.umass.edu/room-request) and fill out the form. From here, you can book breakout rooms, tables, and even classrooms. 

Finally, make sure to use the Chase Career Center. You can make appointments on the same website you would make advising appointments, and meet with a career coach who can help you with anything from building your resume to a five year plan. Chase also provides resources like IsenberWorks, Handshake, and BigInterview!