Full Steam Ahead
By Alexandra Tsakeres JGSM '11
Issue date: 10/1/09 Section: Careers
The new Director of the Career Management Center discusses recruiting, the economy, and why it's great to be back in Ithaca.
Sitting down with Fred Staudmyer, the new Director of the Career Management Center, we had one burning question: What's his pitch?
"My career has been conducted in three phases, and this is the third phase," explains Staudmyer. A 1977 graduate of the ILR School and a 1979 graduate of the Johnson School, Staudmyer has had a successful and diverse career in human resources with a strong focus on manpower, recruiting, career planning and talent acquisition. He served as the head of executive recruiting at Chase, where he was responsible for MBA and undergraduate recruiting and training. He then moved to a large communications and publishing company as the Chief Human Resources Officer, where he had worldwide responsibility for human resources and continued his focus on talent acquisition and manpower. From there, he entered HR capital management and consulting and worked for one of the largest career transition companies in the country, Manchester Partners (now Right Associates). "That's where my interest in managing careers really came from," said Staudmyer. "I loved that work."
Staudmyer acknowledges that he probably would have stayed in that industry for many years if he hadn't gotten the entrepreneurial bug and consequently moved on to direct a private equity rollup of temporary staffing companies and later, legal services companies. After the conclusion of several successful company sales, Staudmyer was looking for the next step in his career. He originally planned to develop a career management consulting firm and also began to look at senior career management roles.
"The opportunity to rejoin Cornell, and specifically to rejoin the Johnson school and be impactful in an area that is of so much interest to me, helping students get their careers launched, I couldn't resist this wonderful opportunity to impact the university."
And what a time to join. Facing one of toughest employment markets we have ever seen, one has to admire Staudmyer's fortitude (he's clearly a Johnson alum). The staff in the Career Management Center is in a unique position to have valuable insight into how the employment market is faring and how recruiting will be affected in the upcoming year. Staudmyer acknowledges that the staff has spent plenty of time talking about the challenges in the economy. "We know where those challenges are, and we know that in order to achieve the success of really providing an employment opportunity and a career launch for our students, we are going to have to take things to a new level in terms of innovation and in terms of personal touch with our students."
"Tremendous work has gone on here before. The CMC has been well managed and we have wonderful relationships with corporations and alumni. However, we are going to have to enhance those relationships and hopefully take a more innovative approach with students to make this work; 'this work' being making sure that our students have every possible resource and support mechanism available to them in their career launch."
The bottom line is that the CMC has experienced some reductions in recruiters coming to campus at this time. However, it must be noted that a number of companies who normally come to recruit have chosen not to visit this year. Staudmyer indicated that it is the CMC's goal to find ways to connect with those companies that are more innovative than the standard of bringing them to campus to interview. "Again, we are going to need an extra effort. The old adage is, at 211 degrees water is just hot water, but at 212 degrees it boils and creates steam and you can drive a locomotive. It's only one more degree. And so I think the additional effort is needed on the part of CMC and students, alumni and faculty, to have a successful recruiting season for all MBAs. We are going to need more than we have done in the past."
Does this "more" simply translate into a dollar figure? Cornell, like many universities, has experienced setbacks to its endowment and consequently to budgets across the university. Many wonder how this affects the investment in career resources. However, Staudmyer feels the CMC is getting the support it needs. "There is no question we have to manage our resources very carefully. But there is a recognition on behalf of the Johnson School that the CMC and career management in general is something that is critical to the value proposition of higher education and specifically of an MBA education. Part of the value proposition is indeed having a strong career launch. And so, with that understanding in mind, there has been a lot of effort made to preserve the resources of the CMC."
Clearly, the School is empowered to take every step to support its students. But the Johnson student body is a motivated group, and many want to know what they can do collectively to ensure that career success is met both individually and for the student community as a whole. In response, Staudmyer had several suggestions as to how students can meet these goals:
As far as strategic planning for the CMC, Staudmyer is excited about what lies ahead. "The Johnson School has put together a strategic plan, and a key portion of that plan is continuing to build and enhance our ability to help students manage their careers. One of the things I have been very excited about since I started speaking with the Dean is that there is tremendous support within the Johnson School for the CMC and for the students' careers."
"I think that the additional vision I would offer for the CMC is to have an even deeper relationship with alumni and corporations. We certainly want to continue the excellent relationships we have with our key partners, but because they are hiring fewer people, we must go beyond our established recruiting partners and develop new sets of partners in virtually every discipline that recruits here. The students are changing and the structure of the market for MBAs is changing, and we have to find ways to respond and stay ahead of the curve. People are now embarking on a more individual job search, so again we are back to spending more time creating individual programs for students because one size does not fit all. But again, students have got to own their individual career management. But my goal is to eventually create an environment where a student graduates and says, 'I can't think of anything; any resource, any tool, or any advising source that I could have been provided with that I wasn't provided with.' That is our ultimate success. And we know that if we do that, the majority of our students will have a successful career launch."
A native of upstate New York, Staudmyer is happy to be back in Ithaca. Sage socials have been at the top of his list, and he's looking forward to Cornell hockey games and golfing at the Robert Trent Jones golf course while the weather is still good. But above all, he's happy to be back at the Johnson School. "What I'm really looking forward to is getting to know the students in more depth, understanding student needs better, and re-engaging with this wonderful community."
Sitting down with Fred Staudmyer, the new Director of the Career Management Center, we had one burning question: What's his pitch?
"My career has been conducted in three phases, and this is the third phase," explains Staudmyer. A 1977 graduate of the ILR School and a 1979 graduate of the Johnson School, Staudmyer has had a successful and diverse career in human resources with a strong focus on manpower, recruiting, career planning and talent acquisition. He served as the head of executive recruiting at Chase, where he was responsible for MBA and undergraduate recruiting and training. He then moved to a large communications and publishing company as the Chief Human Resources Officer, where he had worldwide responsibility for human resources and continued his focus on talent acquisition and manpower. From there, he entered HR capital management and consulting and worked for one of the largest career transition companies in the country, Manchester Partners (now Right Associates). "That's where my interest in managing careers really came from," said Staudmyer. "I loved that work."
Staudmyer acknowledges that he probably would have stayed in that industry for many years if he hadn't gotten the entrepreneurial bug and consequently moved on to direct a private equity rollup of temporary staffing companies and later, legal services companies. After the conclusion of several successful company sales, Staudmyer was looking for the next step in his career. He originally planned to develop a career management consulting firm and also began to look at senior career management roles.
"The opportunity to rejoin Cornell, and specifically to rejoin the Johnson school and be impactful in an area that is of so much interest to me, helping students get their careers launched, I couldn't resist this wonderful opportunity to impact the university."
And what a time to join. Facing one of toughest employment markets we have ever seen, one has to admire Staudmyer's fortitude (he's clearly a Johnson alum). The staff in the Career Management Center is in a unique position to have valuable insight into how the employment market is faring and how recruiting will be affected in the upcoming year. Staudmyer acknowledges that the staff has spent plenty of time talking about the challenges in the economy. "We know where those challenges are, and we know that in order to achieve the success of really providing an employment opportunity and a career launch for our students, we are going to have to take things to a new level in terms of innovation and in terms of personal touch with our students."
"Tremendous work has gone on here before. The CMC has been well managed and we have wonderful relationships with corporations and alumni. However, we are going to have to enhance those relationships and hopefully take a more innovative approach with students to make this work; 'this work' being making sure that our students have every possible resource and support mechanism available to them in their career launch."
The bottom line is that the CMC has experienced some reductions in recruiters coming to campus at this time. However, it must be noted that a number of companies who normally come to recruit have chosen not to visit this year. Staudmyer indicated that it is the CMC's goal to find ways to connect with those companies that are more innovative than the standard of bringing them to campus to interview. "Again, we are going to need an extra effort. The old adage is, at 211 degrees water is just hot water, but at 212 degrees it boils and creates steam and you can drive a locomotive. It's only one more degree. And so I think the additional effort is needed on the part of CMC and students, alumni and faculty, to have a successful recruiting season for all MBAs. We are going to need more than we have done in the past."
Does this "more" simply translate into a dollar figure? Cornell, like many universities, has experienced setbacks to its endowment and consequently to budgets across the university. Many wonder how this affects the investment in career resources. However, Staudmyer feels the CMC is getting the support it needs. "There is no question we have to manage our resources very carefully. But there is a recognition on behalf of the Johnson School that the CMC and career management in general is something that is critical to the value proposition of higher education and specifically of an MBA education. Part of the value proposition is indeed having a strong career launch. And so, with that understanding in mind, there has been a lot of effort made to preserve the resources of the CMC."
Clearly, the School is empowered to take every step to support its students. But the Johnson student body is a motivated group, and many want to know what they can do collectively to ensure that career success is met both individually and for the student community as a whole. In response, Staudmyer had several suggestions as to how students can meet these goals:
- Start with individual career responsibility. Get engaged early, which for first years means beginning the process of exploration with career leader, company research, and exploring which immersions are important to you. For both classes, it means getting your tools together, which includes your resume, story, and career campaign plan.
- Recognize that career management is not a task. It is a long-term journey, and a perfect example of that is developing your career network. The CMC is committed to helping students develop this network by helping to understand how to do it and by giving students resources, such as access to alumni who are a tremendous source of opportunity in these challenging times to assist in the career launch of MBAs.
- Be well prepared for every opportunity. The more prepared you are, the more successful you will be in your individual career launch and the more positively you represent the Johnson School. Consequently, you give employers a reason to stay with us. By improving, building and managing our standard as quality job seekers, we have a very positive effect in the market.
As far as strategic planning for the CMC, Staudmyer is excited about what lies ahead. "The Johnson School has put together a strategic plan, and a key portion of that plan is continuing to build and enhance our ability to help students manage their careers. One of the things I have been very excited about since I started speaking with the Dean is that there is tremendous support within the Johnson School for the CMC and for the students' careers."
"I think that the additional vision I would offer for the CMC is to have an even deeper relationship with alumni and corporations. We certainly want to continue the excellent relationships we have with our key partners, but because they are hiring fewer people, we must go beyond our established recruiting partners and develop new sets of partners in virtually every discipline that recruits here. The students are changing and the structure of the market for MBAs is changing, and we have to find ways to respond and stay ahead of the curve. People are now embarking on a more individual job search, so again we are back to spending more time creating individual programs for students because one size does not fit all. But again, students have got to own their individual career management. But my goal is to eventually create an environment where a student graduates and says, 'I can't think of anything; any resource, any tool, or any advising source that I could have been provided with that I wasn't provided with.' That is our ultimate success. And we know that if we do that, the majority of our students will have a successful career launch."
A native of upstate New York, Staudmyer is happy to be back in Ithaca. Sage socials have been at the top of his list, and he's looking forward to Cornell hockey games and golfing at the Robert Trent Jones golf course while the weather is still good. But above all, he's happy to be back at the Johnson School. "What I'm really looking forward to is getting to know the students in more depth, understanding student needs better, and re-engaging with this wonderful community."
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