Acquire Important Skills

Do you have what it takes to succeed professionally? Whether you are interested in  a specific business field, such as marketing, finance, or supply chain management, and whether you are looking into starting your career with an entry level position or aspiring to become a CEO, there are some skills that every employer will be looking for at the time of hiring. Some of these skills are acquired at school, while others are not. Learn which skills are valuable to acquire and where to acquire them.

Teamwork and Problem Solving Skills in the Workplace - Listen to Jason Pettner, Quantitative Analyst at C.S. McKee, talk about the importance of teamwork and intrapersonal skills in the world of finance.
Teamwork and Problem Solving Skills in the Workplace - Listen to Donovan Owen, Project and Supply Chain Management graduate and Enterprise Application Consultant at IBM, discuss his roles and responsibilities at IBM, the importance of working with a team, and understanding conflict resolution and communication skills.
Communication Skills in Business -

Business is all about interacting with customers, employees, and other stakeholders. To succeed, you need to sharpen your written and oral communication skills. Listen to Ben Ramey, Marketing graduate and Business Development Consultant at Oracle, discuss his path from Penn State Behrend to Oracle, his current roles and responsibilities, and the importance of communication skills in business.

Business Ethics - Listen to Dave Dieterman, Assistant Teaching Professor at Penn State Behrend, explain the meaning of business ethics.  He discusses the history of business ethics, the nature of business, the nature of competition, and how people should act in business to be successful.
Learn to Be Social - Listen to Kate Becker, Behrend alumnus in Marketing and International Business and Senior Campaign Developer at ApexDrop. She discusses her roles and responsibilities at ApexDrop. She also discusses the importance of being social in the world of marketing and the ways to improve your communication skills.
Empathy and Good Communication - Listen to Kevin O’Connell, Project and Supply Chain Management and Marketing graduate and Cloud Application Consultant at Oracle, discusses his roles and responsibilities at Oracle, but also talks about the importance of empathy and good communication with customers.
Presentation Skills - Listen to Dr. Greg Filbeck, Director of the Black School of Business at Penn State Behrend, talk about what makes a good presentation. He gives 10 helpful tips to help you do a great job on your next presentation.
Personal Selling: Establishing Strong Relationships with Customers to Meet Their Needs - Personal selling is something all of us do – whether we realize it or not. In business, we are selling products, services, ideas, relationships, and so on. Personal selling involves an exchange of something of value. Listen to Gerry Cicchetti, Director of Advancement at the Erie County Historical Society, explain the process of personal selling and the impact of establishing strong relationships with one’s customers on the success of a business and a key factor in meeting their needs.

Work-Life Balance in Financial Planning - Listen to 3 Behrend alumni as they discuss work life balance in the field of financial planning.
Preparing for a New Role - Listen to Taryn Kadar, Logistics Specialist at Covestro, discuss what it means to prepare for a new role.
Learning to Work Remotely - Listen to Quincy Adams, Application Analyst at US Steel Corporation, talk about what it means to learn to work remotely.
Getting Support for Professional Growth - Listen to Tim Kluska, Senior Analyst at Vanguard, talk about the importance of working for a firm who values its employees' lifelong learning and professional growth.
Professional Experience versus Formal Education - Listen to Mandi Goodwill, IT Manager at Erie Insurance, talk about how her professional experience enabled her to rise to her current position. She also talks about the differences between professional experience and formal education.
Learning to Work in the Medical Field - Listen to Lyndsay Ackman, Behrend Marketing Graduate from Penn State Behrend and Associate Product Manager at LivaNova. LivaNova is a company that develops life support devices. In this podcast, you will learn about the duties and responsibilities of a product manager.
Lifelong Learning and Professional Success - Joshua Trey Miller discusses his journey from graduating at Penn State Behrend to becoming the Chief Financial Officer at LifePoint Health in Portland, Oregon. He talks about how accounting found him, and the importance of taking calculated risks throughout his career. Josh explains how obtaining an accounting degree can help anyone interested in working business.
Taking the CPA after Graduating - Meilyng Gonzalez Adams is an Accounting and International Business 2014 grad. She talks about taking the CPA exam after she had already graduated and started a job at PwC, so she could become a public accountant.
Build Strong Work Ethics - Listen to Kate Becker, Behrend alumnus in Marketing and International Business and Senior Campaign Developer at ApexDrop. She discusses her roles and responsibilities at ApexDrop. She also discusses the importance of having strong work ethics and how it will impact your career. She gives tips on how to work on this specific skills as a student.
Learning on the Job and Career Advancement - Listen to Ann Scott, Community Outreach Manager at Erie Insurance Group, talk about career advancement. She gives tips and advice to recent hires. Her tips include: to know what you have to do in your role, believe in the company and their mission and values, and do your job. She also suggests to be responsible, on time, get involved, learn to fix mistakes, and be patient.
Diversity at Vanguard - Listen to Eric Frei, Compliance Director at Vanguard, talk about the place of diversity in the workplace specifically at Vanguard.
Planning a Tradeshow Internationally - Event Planning is a dynamic position that applies project management skills needed to create and plan small or large events. Listen to Jonathan Wolff, Penn State Behrend alumnus and Customer Experience Specialist at Parker LORD, talk about how a trade show is run and discuss the differences between in-person events and virtual events.
Building a Successful Career at a Big International Accounting Firm - Robin Horvatin discusses her journey from a newly minted analyst, nine days after graduating, to becoming a senior manager at Accenture 17 years later. Working in Accenture’s Pittsburgh office, Robin has never strayed from the company and says that the importance of being open-minded, coachable, and always willing to learn have helped drive her success.

The Challenges of Working in Corporate Retail in the Fashion Industry as a Black Woman - Listen to Jacqueline Jackson, Penn State Behrend alumnus with a degree in Marketing and International Business and Senior Director of Planning for Footwear Accessories at Ralph Lauren, Corp. She has worked at Gap, Coach, Ralph Lauren, and West Elm. Retail is where math and fashion merge!

A Retail Professional’s International Experience - Listen to Marissa Smith, Vice President, Transformation & Operations at Bluestem. Learn about the international experience of a retail professional who has traveled and worked overseas in Asia. She discusses how she moved to Hong Kong to learn about the business of her new company before coming back to the U.S. to manage teams from Asia and PA. She discusses her experience living and working in Asia after she moved overseas, where she lived for 5 years. She emphasizes the importance of being a lifelong learner.
Getting a Job at a Big Accounting Firm - Are you wondering what job opportunities await graduates with an accounting degree? What type of internship opportunities you may have while working on your degree? How much time you will need to prepare for a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) exam? Listen to this podcast and learn about Nicole Overby’s journey at Behrend: how she prepared for the CPA exam and how the internships she participated in helped her land a job with PwC.
Study Abroad Experience - Are you interested in traveling? Would you like to learn a new language or live in a new culture? A study abroad program may be the right opportunity for you during college. It is an opportunity of a lifetime that will also enable you to add skills onto your resume and prepare you for your future career in so many ways.  Listen to Nicole Kittleberger, who graduated with a finance degree from Penn State Behrend, describe her experience studying abroad in Barcelona, Spain.
Traveling to Prepare for a Career - Are you interested in learning about different cultures, but not ready to take a semester off to study abroad? You may be interested in taking what we call an embedded course.  An embedded course is a course with a global focus that is taught on campus for a semester.  As part of your course, you will travel with your faculty and classmates to the country/countries that were the focus of your class.  Listen to Maggie Burns, who graduated with a dual degree in marketing and international business from Penn State Behrend, describe her experience traveling to the U.K. and Ukraine as part of a course she took.. She talks about the opportunity it gave her and how it helped her prepare for her career.
Working at a Small Financial Firm and the Importance of Technology - Listen to Jason Pettner, Quantitative Analyst at C.S. McFee, discuss the differences between working at a small firm and a big firm and how to prepare to work at a small firm in terms of technology.
Technological Advancement in the Transportation Business - Listen to Jeffrey Hollenbeck, Director of Operations at Barnhart Transportation, discuss the challenges he faces due to technological advancement in the field.
Using Education to Become a Good Project Manager - Listen to Dr. Allyson Graham, Senior Project Manager at Erie Insurance, talk about how grad school propelled her career in project management.
There may be no Project Managers with Agile - Listen to Melissa Laskyi, Master Project Manager at Erie Insurance, talk about the reasons why there may be no project managers when companies use Agile.
Waterfall versus Agile Projects - Listen to Melissa Laskyi, Master Project Manager at Erie Insurance, talk about the differences between waterfall and agile projects.
Tools Used with Agile - Listen to Melissa Laskyi, master project manager at Erie Insurance, talk about the tools that are often used with Agile on a daily basis.
Project Owner versus Scrum Master - Listen to Emily White, Senior Project Manager at Erie Insurance, talk about the differences between project owners and scrum masters.
Managing a Long Term Project - Listen to Emily White, Senior Project Manager at Erie Insurance, talk about what managing a long term project entails.
How Agile Works - Listen to Emily White, Senior Project Manager at Erie Insurance, talk about the specificity of Agile.
Recent Changes in Supply Chain - Listen to Daniel Luttner, managing director at Plantensive, discuss the changes that have occured in the field of supply chain in recent years.
Getting Certified in Agile - Listen to Mandi Goodwill, IT Manager at Erie Insurance, discuss how to get certified in Agile.
AI to Increase Value Added Opportunities in Companies - Listen to Michael Fairbank, senior managing consultant at IBM, discuss companies' needs to learn to integrate data for better performance and how these data analytics skills as well as AI knowledge will help graduates differentiate themselves during the hiring process.
Keeping up with AI and other Technologies - Listen to Daniel Luttner, managing director at Plantensive, discuss the impact of AI on supply chain management and talk about the importance of keeping up with new technologies to differentiate yourself.
Emerging Technologies in Supply Chain Management - Listen to Kevin O’Connell, Project and Supply Chain Management and Marketing graduate and Cloud Application Consultant at Oracle, discuss how emerging technologies impact supply chain management.
Working in Human Resources - Listen to Ted Wisinski, who majored in business economics at Penn State Behrend and went on to earn a Master’s degree in economics and is applying his analytical skills in the field of human resources.
Data Technology Marketing - Listen to Jenna Devinney, Marketing and Communications Specialist at Webbula. What is a marketing and communication specialist? Have you ever heard of the email marketing industry? Listen to this podcast and learn about Webbula from Pittsburgh, PA, a data technology company. Jenna talks about her job responsibilities.
Understanding Chemistry to Do Marketing - Listen to Angela Sweeney, Behrend Marketing and International Business graduate, talk about her current responsibilities as Sales Manager at Lord Corporation. She discusses professional development and how she learned the skills she needed for her job working with engineers. She highlights the skills that helped her be successful: organization and time management.
Working in Human Resources -
Listen to Ted Wisinski, who majored in business economics at Penn State Behrend and went on to earn a Master’s degree in economics and is applying his analytical skills in the field of human resources.