Network Effect: The Carlson to Careers Connection

It’s not what you know but who you know, or so the saying goes. It stands to reason, then, that covering both bases—education and connections—creates an even more solid foundation for success. Internships and apprenticeships provide both, which is why getting students into one is a top priority for the Carlson School. “Our goal is making sure that 95 percent-plus have that internship experience, so they’re set up for success,” says Maggie Tomas, executive director of the Carlson Business Career Center (CBCC).

That effort begins early and relies heavily on the Carlson School’s comprehensive alumni network, which extends around the globe, across industries, and into big Fortune 500 companies, small start-ups, and everything in between. It’s rooted in the Minneapolis campus, where the experiences of alumni and other professionals are embedded into the curriculum via panels and consultancies, delivering the industry awareness that sets the stage for a successful internship experience.

Grads and undergrads find their right fit in myriad traditional and non- traditional ways, including on-campus career fairs and company interviews; Carlson-led, industry-focused exploratory trips to either coast; and customized facilitated connections.

Whether they’re part of an established pipeline program with the potential of a full-time job offer at the end, or a one-off project designed to net skills and build connections, interns inevitably come out ahead. “I love it when students come back from their internship, because there’s a new confidence once they’ve been able to utilize their business skills in a business setting,” Tomas says. “The level of confidence that they have and the growth that happens is really powerful.”

In The Zone

Deshaun Ellis, a senior in the Undergraduate Program, began earning his business degree at a small Wisconsin school less than 30 minutes from his hometown. It felt like a safe option for the first-generation college student, especially during a global pandemic.

A year in, he visited a friend attending the University of Minnesota- Twin Cities, who took him to the Homecoming football game. Ellis had an epiphany there in the stands, amid a cheering sea of maroon and gold. “I feel like I’m selling myself short if I don’t have an experience that opens me up to a new world,” he says he realized. Ellis promptly applied to the Carlson School, was accepted, and transferred in Fall 2022 to major in Marketing and minor in Business Analytics.

The change felt right, but it wasn’t easy. He was far from home for the first time in his life, which was just one of many firsts: renting an apartment, buying groceries, managing bills in his name. “Those were all things I was learning, on top of going to a school that was a lot more academically challenging than what I was used to. It really rattled me,” he says.

By the end of September, he hit a breaking point. Ellis reached out to his advisor, Anny Lin, for what ended up being a “life-changing” phone call that kicked off a flurry of Carlson School connections. He draws a line, albeit not a straight one, from that phone call to the moment a year later when he got word he’d snagged his dream pipeline internship on the Procter & Gamble sales team. Ellis immediately called Lin to share the good news.

The internship experience at first mirrored his initial time at the Carlson School, as he navigated the corporate world among second- and third-generation P&Gers, with business travel, a company credit card, and delivering sales presentations to company leaders. “Two years prior, just signing a $7-a-month housing insurance contract under my name was intimidating. And now, it’s this?” he says of the whirlwind experience.

During his 10-week stint, Ellis drew on the hard skills he learned in class and folded in soft skills he soaked up as he worked to land the job offer. This time, his first phone call was to his grandparents, who supported him in what felt like a big risk that was finally paying off. Ellis begins his new adventure as a Procter & Gamble account executive after graduation this spring.

For now, he continues his studies and on-campus duties, including as a Carlson Ambassador, leading campus tours for prospective students and their families. He likes to point out the office tower where he worked, among the tallest in the Minneapolis skyline. “There’s no growth in the comfort zone, and there’s no comfort in the growth zone,” he tells them. “When I came here, going from not knowing what the heck I was doing to working in a building where you can look out and see the entire Twin Cities, it felt like a story.”

Fashion Forward

Any doubt Jude Norris, a junior in the Undergraduate Program, had that a business degree was for him disappeared within his first few weeks at the Carlson School. His Marketing major met his creative needs, and the flexibility of a business degree was beginning to dawn on him. “I started to realize that every industry has a business backing it,” he says, which meant his growing skills could take him wherever he wanted to go, eventually.

On his way to class sophomore year, Norris ran across a Gopher Gratitude pop-up coffee event run by Kate Ostrem, director of benefactor relations. As the two chatted, Ostrem asked if there was any way in which his experience at the Carlson School was lacking. “I think fashion is where I am meant to be, but being in the Midwest is hard. It’s not New York; it’s not L.A. We don’t have the same connections and intern opportunities,” he says he shared with her. “There’s no physical way for me to fly to New York and back every single day.”

Within days, Ostrem sent along the names of three Carlson School alums who had worked in corporate fashion.

Norris reached out to all three, introducing himself and asking if they’d be open to sharing how they got started in the fashion industry. A Zoom conversation with alum Scott Jameson, ’92 BSB, former CFO of Burberry and Polo Ralph Lauren, led to a connection at Gucci, who told Norris about the Gucci Program for Scholars—an unadvertised, eight-week virtual apprenticeship of sorts that students network their way into. Norris called on his developing self-marketing skills and landed a spot in the Fall 2024 cohort.

Norris and 19 other scholars with varying majors from across North America gathered online three times a week. Each time, they met with a panel representing different areas of Gucci, including finance, retail, legal, and marketing. “It was a really good opportunity to ask questions and learn from people who are in the industry where we want to be, as scholars, in the next five to 10 years,” Norris says. The program culminated in a capstone project, presented to all the program’s panelists as well as Gucci’s board of directors.

Norris says the experience gave him market insight and clarity about what’s possible, as well as dozens upon dozens of connections. His fellow scholars and industry insiders were kind and helpful—and, he confirms, not at all like they’re portrayed in The Devil Wears Prada. As he attempts to network into other opportunities, in fashion or retail, Norris is noticing most of the hiring or marketing managers in the fashion industry have a connection at Gucci, illustrating how tight-knit the community is—a community he is now a part of.

Giving Back

Pamela London Fox, ’22 MBA, homed in on her dream internship through the Carlson School before her coursework even began. 

Sitting in on a virtual panel for prospective students, listening as second-year MBAs and alumni described their roles, one piqued her interest: a highly competitive pipeline internship on 3M’s internal consulting team. It sounded like the perfect combination of marketing— the field she’d spent the previous five years in—and strategy, the area in which she wanted to grow. “It was the first time in my career that I thought to myself, ‘That’s the job I want.’”

London Fox spent months exploring the role. “It was a lot of networking,” she says. “The Carlson network is so strong and rich and willing to invest their time in me and my classmates, which I’m still so appreciative of.”

She made connections, asked for referrals, and kept track of everything on a spreadsheet. By the time she interviewed with 3M, midway into her first year, London Fox felt confident illustrating her deep understanding of the position and transferable skills.

She nailed the internship—the only student representing the Carlson School in 2021’s 10-person cohort—and it lived up to her high expectations. In the year between starting her permanent 3M role, London Fox finished her MBA and served as a CBCC graduate assistant. It was a way to continue to build her proverbial toolbox and give back to the program that had supported her.

Those deepened skills and connections came in handy when she was laid off from 3M a year in. “It was a no-brainer to say, not only do I want to keep doing the same type of work, but I have proof that I’m good at it,” she says. “That was really a confidence booster going through the process of looking for a new job.”

She quickly landed a marketing strategy position at Boston Scientific. London Fox is also a contract coach at the CBCC, relaying the same type of customized insight she received while prepping for internship interviews, helping to weave part of the network web that supports Carlson School students and alumni.

Illustrations by Ben Kirchner