As BYU Marriott School of Business students prepare for careers after graduation, a new resource is now available to support them in their professional development and placement. The newly created Young Professional Advisory Council (YPAC) will give students the opportunity to learn from alumni who graduated from BYU Marriott during the previous 10 years.
The inaugural cohort of advisors consists of a diverse group of 40 alumni coming from a variety of majors at BYU Marriott. The group of young professional leaders (YPLs) work in various positions and companies. Each one was individually nominated by various department and faculty leaders at the school for exemplifying the vision, mission, and values of BYU Marriott.
“The value of the YPAC will come in the young professional leaders’ ability to relate to students,” says Sam Dunn, assistant dean and director of the Steven and Georgia White Business Career Center (BCC) at BYU Marriott. “The YPLs recently sat where our current students now sit. These alumni were once nervous about their next interview, unsure of the best career path, and on the lookout for networking connections and sound advice. As faculty and staff, we believe the YPAC members will provide fresh and needed perspectives that can significantly improve BYU Marriott’s ability to achieve student career placement success.”
The YPLs will work in conjunction with the BCC to help students with job placement and personal growth. Students interested in meeting with a YPL will contact their career advisor at the BCC, who will facilitate a connection. Meetings will occur in-person when possible but also through remote means such as phone calls, texts, emails, and video conferencing because the alumni are in various locations.
One YPL is 2016 MISM graduate Suqi Liu, who now works for Google as a technical account manager. “I'm hoping I can meet amazing students and learn their passions and goals. I want to be someone they can chat and figure out a path with. I can offer moral support or just celebrate success with them,” she says.
Liu’s sentiments were echoed by the rest of her YPAC colleagues. “The YPLs are who they are today because BYU Marriott alumni and others guided them. Each one is excited to be part of this program and is already thinking about ways to be more involved with students to help them develop as Christlike leaders and find good jobs,” says Patrick Tedjamulia, YPAC program administrator.
YPAC mentors were selected from a variety of backgrounds in order to help all students at BYU Marriott. Liu is from Shandong, China, and looks forward to using her unique experiences in her position as an advisor. “Many people helped me with my career when I was at BYU Marriott, which I appreciated. I want to pass that help on, especially for international students, because landing a job in the United States may not be as straightforward for them,” she explains.
The BCC and Deans Office wanted to create this new resource for students because they recognize that recruiting constantly changes. Having young professionals involved helps the school be as up-to-date with current hiring practices as possible. Dunn calls BYU Marriott alumni the “secret sauce” of career placement. In order to keep ideas fresh, the YPAC membership will be replaced every two years with a new group of YPLs.
To help kick things off, the YPAC gathered on March 31 and April 1, 2022, for an inaugural conference. Included in the conference was the creation of a YPAC charter, which established guiding principles and goals for the YPLs in their work with students. When creating these principles, the YPLs focused on preparing students for career placement and to be Christlike leaders. “I am deeply grateful for the young alumni who have agreed to give back as members of the YPAC and am more than excited to see their impact on students’ lives,” Dunn says.
Students looking to find their BCC career advisor in order to meet with or learn more about how YPAC can help them find the right career path can visit https://marriott.byu.edu/recruiting/contact/team/ or call 801-422-5800. The BCC is located in the Tanner Building, room 446.
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Writer: Mike Miller