Wharton hosts Career Week '97

Networking was the name of the game last night as the Wharton Undergraduate Division hosted the first panels of Career Week '97, featuring speakers from the fields of marketing and entrepreneurship. But those in attendance stressed that the event was also an educational opportunity, and in the case of those interested in entrepreneurship, a chance to look before they leaped. Co-sponsors for the event included the Wharton Office of Alumni Affairs, the Corporate Foundation Development office, the Wharton Undergraduate Alumni Relations Council and Career Planning and Placement Services. Career Week has been a fixture at the school since 1987, according to Alyssa Marks, a Graduate School of Education student interning with the Wharton Undergraduate Division. But she and others said attendance was up for this year's event due to better advertising and stronger panels. Marks and her colleague Heather Kelly were responsible for contacting potential speakers. "Each year panels are refined to reflect what's going on [in the job market]," Marks said, noting that Wednesday night's featured technology panel was a new addition. Firms represented at the marketing panel included several well-known companies such as General Mills, Johnson & Johnson and Campbell's Soup. At the entrepreneurial panel, which took place in a packed Steinberg-Dietrich classroom, the audience listened to panelists' advice on issues such as finding appropriate capital, determining partnerships and expanding with new technology. Lee Huang from the West Philadelphia Entrepreneurial Center -- which operates out of the building which once housed Dick Clark's American Bandstand -- emphasized the need for people with business backgrounds to work in traditionally nonprofit fields such as "child care and running soup kitchens." Panelists stressed the importance of approaching professors for research and networking opportunities. "Wharton can become a client," InterMedia CEO and 1991 Wharton and Engineering graduate Ashesh Shah said. His firm's staff is comprised of 50 percent Wharton undergraduates, he added. And 1987 Wharton graduate Robin Kimzkey of Mullahy Co. said she was particularly impressed with the students in attendance. "They're amazingly bright, motivated and dedicated," she said. Wharton senior Maria Mandel said the marketing panel was "excellent? a really great mix between various types of marketing positions." "The panelists were dynamic and honest," she added. Wharton sophomore Jordan Bliss said the entrepreneurial panel "told me things I really didn't know before." Bliss said his goal was to start his own company and that he was considering visiting other panels later this week. The panels are being held from 6 to 7:30 p.m. each night this week in Steinberg-Dietrich Hall. Survey forms are distributed after each talk, and a reception allowing another chance to interact with the speakers follows each panel at the Steinberg-Dietrich Hall's Stock Exchange.