For Okoro, he said the MBA program at WGU helped enhance his critical thinking and problem-solving, which has helped him thrive in his current role. “At Goldman Sachs, we value those who think critically about a situation. We encourage building a team environment and we work together to bring ideas and find solutions that we can implement together, and that’s what I learned at WGU.”

At the School of Business, first and foremost we build degrees for jobs, which means we are focused on equipping students with the skills that translate into the business world and meet employer needs, from power skills to critical problem solving to fundamental accounting and finance skills, regardless of degree program. That’s because we believe in creating a truly well-rounded businessperson.

Burdick, who also earned an MBA degree at WGU, said students who earn their degrees at WGU are ideal job applicants. That’s because our degree programs are largely self-guided, and students who are successful in that environment would likely thrive at Goldman Sachs. “You have to be inherently self-driven and set your own pace, and that pace is often very fast,” he said.

As part of the discussion, we offered students practical advice for navigating the job market, including to not overlook their lived experiences that fall outside a paid, full-time job, such as class projects, being a stay-at-home parent or helping a relative with their startup business. We encouraged students to not discount their lived experiences, but to instead pair them with the skills they learned at WGU, which would make their résumé stand out.

Adjei agreed, noting, “I'm looking for people who have experience with an area where we want to move at the speed of business. That experience could not only have been gained while working at Goldman Sachs or one of our competitors, it could have been gained by building a business in your backyard or helping a business that your aunt or your uncle runs.”

And for students who don’t yet have experience, Adjei encouraged them to seek out opportunities to get the experience. “There is no excuse for not getting some tangible experience if you are going through school and getting a degree. If you are in an accounting class, can you go to a small business and say, ‘Hey, mind me helping to balance your books?’ You have to seek out the experience.”

When a stay-at-home-mom  shared she was volunteering to gain more experience but still had concerns about the gap in her résumé, the panelists and I encouraged her to own the gap by underscoring that she is a multitasking savant who is managing high levels of data, human volatility and conflict resolution while working long hours under extreme fatigue. We stressed the importance of finding ways to articulate the gap with confidence. 

Burdick also shared, “As someone who pursued my master’s degree while having a newborn at home, that is no easy task, and you have done some impressive things with the gap that's in your résumé. If you were sitting across from an interviewer and you expressed all of that, that's nothing less than impressive. You don't see that as a gap as an employer. You see that as, ‘Well, okay, I've got Wonder Woman in front of me. Let's step it up on my side.’”

While we also cautioned students that the job market is fast- paced, Okoro noted, “The fundamentals will never change. So as an employer, what am I looking for? Problem solving skills, critical thinking, being a leader, those key concepts will never change.”

I was honored to be part of this fireside chat that included our students who are nearing graduation because they will become the next generation of business leaders, and I know the business world will be in good hands.