From the mid-level marketing manager to the partner in a top accounting firm, Marriott School grads agree on at least one thing: their first jobs mattered. Despite the mistakes and invariable snafus, most grads look back in awe at how much these first experiences shaped their future successes.
Here are nine examples of what grads from marketing, finance, information systems, accounting, and human resources learned on the job and how those experiences launched their careers.
Bill Benac
BA German, 1971
MBA, 1973
Partner and Co-Owner, Primalend Capital Partners
Dallas, Texas
First Job: Associate, GTE (now Verizon) Stamford, Connecticut
Main Responsibilities: As a new hire I was given surprisingly broad responsibilities to act on my own. In my first eighteen months I ran the corporation’s commercial paper and short-term financing; traded foreign exchange and set up various hedging and cross-border funds flow mechanisms; and helped execute a vast employee stock ownership program.
Mentor: Both the CFO and corporate controller, Bill Harrison and Doric “Doc” Mauro, took a direct interest in my success by letting me operate independently while still trying to help me avoid mistakes; they answered my questions and listened to my ideas. Only years later did I really appreciate how important having the right mentors wasthose connections served me not only throughout my seventeen years at Verizon but also many times in the years since.
Biggest Challenge: Choosing where to work within a 225,000-person global organization. I spent my first years bouncing around accounting, treasury, budget, and corporate planning to discover my strengths and interests. It challenged me to avoid the mistakes that can occur when a person with high zeal is given great latitude but only limited air cover.
Biggest Faux Pas: Failing to check a small but important detail that allowed the biweekly payroll direct deposit to hit the bank accounts of the entire headquarters staff as a debit, not a credit. The president was the first person to call my boss and let him know we had withdrawn funds from—not deposited funds into—his bank account!
What it Did for My Career: My first job gave me confidence to move forward boldly in subsequent jobs, dive into thorny problems, and deal effectively with team members at all levels.
Mitch Hill
BS Accounting, 1983
MBA, Harvard, 1987
CFO, Cameron Health Inc.
San Clemente, CA
First Job: Financial and Systems Analyst, IBM Corporation
White Plains, New York
Mentor: My hiring manager, executive vice president Brian O’Connor, took a chance on me as the first BYU grad in the rotating financial management program. He tracked my progress as I moved from one position to the next and always gave me advicesome of which I took more readily than others.
Biggest Challenge: My biggest challenge then, and to some degree still now, was life balance. I would arrive home from work at 10 p.m. each night and then try to spend some time with my wife. When I made the decision to attend business school full time after working for a few years, it almost felt like I was going on vacation.
How I Excelled: I was already unique as the only BYU grad in finance at IBM, but I had to make sure my work stood out too. I found there were people who were smarter than me, but no one was willing to work as hard. I put my Idaho work ethic to good use by distinguishing myself as someone who always attempted to go the extra mile.
User Experience: I gained broad exposure to many of IBM’s largest divisions by working on a number of accounting, finance, and systems projects. We developed a common ledger system for IBM subsidiaries and made pricing recommendations, which helped me gain a somewhat diverse finance perspective in a short time.
Biggest Faux Pas: One day early on, I wore a light-blue, button-down, longsleeved shirt to work. My hiring manager saw me in the hallway and said, “Nice shirt, Mitch, but I’ve never promoted anyone wearing a blue shirt.” Needless to say, I dropped those from my wardrobe.
Whitney Seamons
BA English, 2000
MBA, 2004
Sr. Global Product Marketing Manager, Microsoft
Redmond, WA
First Job: Associate Marketing Manager, Johnson & JohnsonPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania
Main Responsibilities: I managed the packaging, web presence and digital advertising, trade and consumer promotions, and brand forecasting for the St. Joseph Aspirin brand.
How I Landed the Job: A colleague from the MBA program was an intern at J&J when his supervisor asked if he knew anyone else from BYU interested in working in marketing. He thought of me, and I went through the interview process and got an offer.
Mentor: My boss, Ajoy Mahtab, was an energetic and passionate guy who listened to my interests and guided my career. He also told people I worked with him not for him, which was subtle but influential in how I work today. He always supported and encouraged my desire for work-life balance by encouraging me to spend less time at work and more time with my family.
How I Excelled: I worked hard, was eager to do well, and loved what I was doing. When you love what you do, you tend to be really good at it.
What it Did for My Career: My first job opened so many doors in the marketing world. I learned how to be a “classically trained” marketer and then took those skills and leveraged them across multiple brands within J&J and now in a completely different industry.
Dicy Burton
BA Communications, 1996
MBA, 2000
Full-time Mom; Former Marketing Director, Mars Inc.
Chicago, IL
First Job: Associate Marketing Manager, The Pillsbury CompanyMinneapolis, Minnesota
Main Responsibilities: Analyzing shipment and consumption information and proposing marketing plans, budgets, and forecast adjustments as necessary for the Toaster Scrambles business.
Mentor: Erin Newkirk, a senior associate, was just one year ahead of me and was a natural leader and mentor. Working alongside her taught me how to think through all of the moving parts of a business and how to communicate with different levels of management.
Biggest Challenge: Finding my voice among so many talented and expe-rienced people. My co-workers certainly had more experience than I did, and at first I was afraid to speak up. I soon learned my job was to run my piece of the business so that my superiors could focus on their responsibilities.
Biggest Faux Pas: A co-worker asked me to submit his daily reports while he was on vacation. After seeing that his new product was significantly outperforming forecasts, I sent congratulatory emails to his team. However, when the associate returned he quickly realized that shipments were significantly under forecasts and the proclaimed success was the result of my spreadsheet error. I was mortified, but I don’t think I’ve made a significant spreadsheet error since.
How I Excelled: I found that I could move beyond my inevitable new-hire mistakes quickly if I took responsibility, corrected any issues, and avoided making the same mistake twice. I also tried to really understand my business you can lose people’s confidence quickly if your numbers or rationale fall apart easily.
Stephen Sloan
BS Accounting/ISys, 1996
MBA Warton, 2002
Managing Director, Cogent Parnters
Shanghai, China
First Job: Staff Accountant, Price Waterhouse LLP
San Francisco, California
Main Responsibilities: I assisted in the audit and preparation of financial statements, which involved working with clients to obtain financial and operating information, checking its accuracy, and making sure my work was properly documented. I was also sent to faraway places in the middle of the Mojave Desert to do inventory counts at year-end. Always an interesting experience!
Biggest Challenge: Being patient and learning the important but not as glamorous parts of the job, such as reviewing client schedules, documenting work, and organizing audit files. I was anxious to do more complicated and challenging work but first needed to learn the fundamentals and build the respect and confidence of my colleagues.
How I Excelled: Chance favors the well prepared, and I tried to be prepared so that when opportunities presented themselves, I was ready for the challenge. In every interaction I had with my colleagues, I tried to leave the impression that I was diligent and reliable.
Biggest Faux Pas: I was in Seattle doing work for one of the shipping unions when the rental car company offered me a free upgrade to a convertible. Showing up every day at shipping yards and union buildings in a red convertible was not my best decision.
What it Did for My Career: My first job allowed me to work with accomplished people and learn what separated and distinguished high performers.
Cindi Hook
BS Accounting, 1987
MBA, 1990
Senior Vice President, General Auditor, Comcast
Philadelphia, PA
First Job: New Product Analyst, Hewlett PackardRoseville, California
Main Responsibilities: I worked mostly with engineers to provide product costing for new merchandise at various stages in the design life cycle. I also provided costing information for prototype runs and set standard product costs for the release.
How I Excelled: I worked hard to build a good rapport with the engineers and to be responsive to their needs and requestsI even joined their softball team! I asked a lot of questions and showed great interest in understanding what the engineers did and the products they were developing.
Unique Experience: Being able to work with engineers, marketers, and other operational people was exciting. The cross-functional team environment was unique at the time compared to what many of my classmates were doing.
Biggest Faux Pas: I constantly mixed up clichés and sayings. One time a plant manager asked which way I thought we should go on a manufacturing location, and I said, “It’s really six to one, twelve dozen of the other.” He gave me a quizzical look and walked away, shaking his head. My boss got a good laugh out of the whole situation.
What it Did for My Career: I learned I can adapt quickly and work with a wide variety of people. I still use many of those skills, such as properly framing an assignment instead of just launching it. I draw upon those early experiences with my team.
Brian P. Murphy
BS Finance, 1986
MBA Columbia, 1988
Managing Director, Portfolio Advisors, LLC
Darien, CT
First Job: Associate Investment Banking, Chemical Bank—New York, New York
How I Landed the Job: After twelve weeks of rotating through various product teams and skill-assessment case studies as a summer intern, I was offered a full-time position following graduation.
Biggest Challenge: I received major responsibility early in my career without formal training, which required significant personal study and mentoring to analyze and solve complex issues. In my first year, I merged two companies, liquidated another, and took a company publicamong other tasks. I relied a lot on outside research and friends in many fields to ensure success.
How I Excelled: I developed a group of colleagues and friends whom I could learn from and lean on while I was “drinking from the fire hose.” I also learned that if I worked eighty hours hours per week, I would learn twice as fast and my
productivity would more than compensate for the mistakes I would make in the learning process.
Unique Experience: I had only been with the bank’s restructuring and reorganization group for two years when we merged with another bank. My division director left, hiring away all our senior-level professionals. Their departure not only caused chaos but also created great opportunities to learn, take on hard tasks, be noticed, and excel.
What it Did for My Career: It gave me the confidence, network, and skills I needed to establish my first investment management company only three years after graduation. We’re still going strong twenty-one years later.
Brad Taylor
BS Psychology, 1984
MBA, 1986
Vice President, HR, General Mills
Ontario, Canada
First Job: Associate HR Manager, General Mills
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Mentor: Jim Galovan, an HR leader at General Mills, became a wonderful example and friend. He took time each week to meet and review my current projects and took interest in me outside of work, genuinely caring about my family and me.
Biggest Challenge: Having grown up in Palo Alto, California, I always thought I’d return there, so my biggest hurdle was learning that there are other great places in the world to live. In my twenty-six years with General Mills, I’ve worked in five states and three countries. Each place is great in its own way.
How I Excelled: Hard work, mentoring from great people, and an emphasis on striving for innovative solutions. One example: forming an alliance with four other corporations to share retiree talent. This brought a tremendous infusion of external innovation.
Unique Experience: I love being part of a company that develops its own leaders and builds pride in its brandswhile also providing flexibility so I can spend time with my family and serve in church callings. General Mills has an extraordinary work culture that focuses on winning with integrity, incorporating creativity, and encouraging flexibility and fun.
Biggest Faux Pas: In my first month on the job, I placed a direct call to our CEO to ask him if he’d appear in the campus recruiting video I was creating. I learned that even in a great open culture like General Mills’, there’s a bit of protocol involved in contacting the CEO. But he did appear in my video!
Christian Matsumori
BS Finance, 1999
MBA Yale, 2005
Director of Product, Electronic Arts
Redwood City, CA
First Job: Financial Analyst, Intel CorporationSanta Clara, California
Main Responsibilities: Determining cost-saving strategies, approving purchases, as well as tracking and analyzing our software license procurement for a $100-million semiconductor design team.
How I Landed the Job: I had no idea what it meant to work in technology, but I liked playing video games when I was a kid, so I thought it might be interesting. I dropped off my rsumé at Intel’s booth at the campus job fair because it was a big technology company, and it went from there.
Mentor: I relied on my father and my friends who were a few years older than me to serve as guides. Early on I also made it a regular routine to meet with more-senior people in the company to get their viewpoints on various career and work-related topics.
Biggest Challenge: Going into technology with pretty much zero experience or understanding of the industry and trying to make an impact. I had to take lots of notes, ask lots of questions, and read as much as I could.
What it Did for My Career: Starting out in finance gave me a solid base that has benefited me in the various positions I’ve had. Exposure to the complexities of the tech industry gave me a foundation that has helped me be a fast learner as I have moved to other sectors in the industry.
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Article written by Michelle Kaiser
Illustrated by Kathryn Rathke
Photographed by Bradley Slade
