Advice to Future MEM Students from a MEM Alum

Author: Yashashree Watkar
Event Date: August 24, 2020
I still remember the first day of orientation at Purdue University. While everyone was introducing themselves, I noticed a stark difference compared to my previous experience. In my undergraduate program, the vast majority of my batch mates shared the same academic backgrounds and career interests. At Purdue MEM, my fellow students joined from a wide range of engineering disciplines and held an array of career aspirations. The commonality that brought us together was our zeal to build a career in the corporate world. Pursuing a Master's in Engineering Management was our stepping stone to growing a leadership-focused career in our chosen technical field that incorporated a closer look towards management.

 

Purdue's MEM offered me flexibility to choose courses from one of the world’s best engineering schools, and from a business school led by professors with diverse backgrounds and enormous industry experience. The program offered me a chance to build my career the way I wanted to shape it. As of today, my batch mates work in diverse fields including corporate consulting, automobile manufacturing, product development, marketing, and data analytics. One of my batch mates is even pursuing a PhD in Aerospace Engineering. The MEM program provides knowledge, and forms a unique platform, for students from different fields to come together for a common cause. We all share the dream of becoming future leaders in our areas of expertise.

During my time at Purdue, one of the most interesting and useful courses I came across was the Professional Development Graduate Seminar taught by Mr. Eric VandeVoorde, our Program Director. We were trained to brainstorm on how to build a unique profile while approaching the job search. Little did I know how frequently I would be able to use the "out-of-the-box thinking" approach taught in that seminar course. After being rejected for a co-op position in Nestle, I wrote an email to the interviewer thanking her for the opportunity. In the message, I wrote about how I made it to one of the top schools in the country and succinctly described my journey transitioning from India to the USA. It was completely an atypical, yet truthful and authentic, approach. Indeed, this was an “out-of-the-box” course of action.

To my surprise, I got an interview call from her colleague in another department who thought my background was more relevant to her field of work! This was the moment where one atypical email about my story helped me secure an industry internship. Doors opened for me at Nestle, where I now work full-time since graduating from Purdue MEM. It has been a long journey leading from that day up to the present. I am proud of my resilient attitude and persistent pursuit of professional opportunities.

As a word of advice from a MEM alum: Rejection means better things are awaiting. Never give up. Trust your instincts. Be persistent in seeking to accomplish your goals.