New partnership with JumpStart provides opportunities for students to get head start on professional development
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Students at the University of Florida Warrington College of Business can now get a jumpstart on their professional development as well as their internship and full-time job search thanks to a new partnership with the JumpStart Advisory Group.
JumpStart specializes in identifying and developing highly-skilled, diverse individuals at the undergraduate, graduate or work professional phases, including diverse races, ethnicities, genders, gender identities, veterans and military status, who possess the expertise, experience and academic credentials for today’s competitive employment market. JumpStart also partners with academic institutions to recruit diverse candidates to undergraduate and graduate level programs, as well as employers to recruit top candidates at the undergraduate, graduate or working professional levels.
When the program first began in 2004, JumpStart had 5 academic partners. Today, the UF Warrington College of Business joins a group of more than 50 academic institutions, including the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, Stanford University Graduate School of Business, Columbia University Graduate School of Business, University of Virginia Darden School of Business, University of Chicago Booth School of Business, Duke University Fuqua School of Business, Harvard Business School, Georgetown University McDonough School of Business and more.
“At our core, we partner with strong academic institutions, and when we were looking at who to partner with next, the University of Florida absolutely fit in that category,” said John Burt, JumpStart CEO and Co-Founder.
Burt cites UF Warrington’s academic rigor, strong leadership, impressive students and shared values with JumpStart as reasons why Florida’s top-ranked business school stood out as a great partner for the program.
“The students that we’ve seen from UF are diamonds in the rough,” Burt said. “They have an aggressive mindset to make things happen but also support each other, in addition to exceptional leadership qualities.”
Students from both the UF MBA program and Heavener School of Business have already taken advantage of JumpStart’s resources.
Full-Time MBA student Chelsea Creech (MBA ’21) participated in JumpStart’s Path to Brand Management Careers Forum this past May, where she learned about careers in brand management and got some early interview training.
“Once I was accepted into JumpStart, I had the opportunity to start interviewing for positions before I started in business school,” she said. “The extra practice of interviewing and the possibility of receiving an offer was very attractive.”
In Creech’s case, her jumpstart on interviewing for positions paid off.
“I made great connections through JumpStart,” she said. “The connections that I made with [one of the participating companies] Conagra ultimately led to an invitation to Conagra Brand Camp and an offer for an Associate Brand Manager position next summer!”
Full-Time MBA student Laura Arias (MBA ’21) found JumpStart’s Path to Management Consulting for MBA’s Diversity Forum in July 2019 valuable for a different reason than she expected.
“JumpStart was a great experience for me because I was able to understand what being a consultant meant,” she said. “Even though I realize that consulting is not the career path that I want to pursue, I would definitely recommend everyone that has an interest in finance, marketing or consulting to participate in a corresponding JumpStart conference. It is a great opportunity to start preparing and exploring early on, to get face time with companies before the noise of full recruiting season starts and to meet people from other business schools.”
Economics undergraduate student Isana Singh (BA ’22, BS ’22) participated in a similar forum about finance and consulting for undergraduate students in August 2019 and was able to further explore why consulting is the best career path for her.
“I discovered my energy for consulting early on in my freshman year at UF,” she said. “It became apparent to me that the consulting industry is highly competitive, and I need to be engaging in a number of growth opportunities in order to earn placement at a top firm. JumpStart offered the professional development and networking opportunities I was searching for, along with a community of highly diverse and supportive students.”
In addition to helping students in their internship and job search, partnering with JumpStart highlights UF Warrington and UF MBA’s commitment to its students of diverse backgrounds.
“At UF MBA, and the entire Warrington College of Business, we are dedicated to providing our students with every opportunity to fulfill their potential as a stand-out business leader,” said John Gresley, Assistant Dean and Director of UF MBA. “Adding JumpStart to opportunities we already offer, like the National Black MBA Association Conference, Forté MBA Forum for Women and Prospanica, puts all of our students in a position to succeed.”
