In the latest episode of the College to Careers podcast, Bobbi Sullivan receives tips for how employees can start off strong from Tammy Stegman of Mary Greeley Medical Center. Learn how to prepare for your first day, how to make a positive first impression, and how to stand out from your peers in your first year.
In this episode of the College to Careers podcast, Natalie Knowlton chats with Joann Mulholland, a student of the University of Iowa College of Law and former Career Coordinator at the University of Northern Iowa's Career Services. Joann gives unique advice and insight into career pivots and the experience of going to law school as a person with 7+ years of work experience in higher education. Listen in as Natalie and Joann chat about Joann's decision to pivot careers and law students' mental health.
During this episode of the College to Careers podcast, Bobbi Sullivan hears perspectives on career building from Jeff Staton of Renewable Energy Group at Chevron. Determine what quarter your career is in and how to view career progression in a healthy way. Don’t miss tips on how to standout in the workplace from an experienced, senior-level human resources leader.
During this episode of the College to Careers podcast, Bobbi Sullivan discusses career mobility with Tanner Mote of Principal Financial Group. Listen as Tanner and Bobbi share stories of their career journeys as well as how they encourage others to lean into their interests and strengths. You will discover a major is just a starting point for a career!
In this episode of the College to Careers podcast, Bobbi Sullivan sits down to chat with Kristin Tague of Pella Corporation about the importance and evolving nature of company culture. Kristin has held many HR roles, but currently serves as the Head of Talent Acquisition & Talent Development for Pella Corporation. Listen as Bobbi and Kristin discuss how to spot a company's culture during the hiring process, company culture post pandemic, and what students should be asking or looking for during their job search.
Bobbi is back with another episode dedicated to strengths in the workplace! Christopher White, Employee Experience Manager at Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield in Des Moines Iowa is our featured guest for Episode 3. Listen in as Bobbi and Christopher discuss the importance of knowing your strengths in the workplace and what makes Wellmark stand out as an employer.
As part of this episode, Bobbi Sullivan, Assistant Director of Business Career Services at Iowa State University, converses with Matt McDonald, Director of Talent Acquisition at Athene. Through their conversation, Matt highlights the importance of internships for both students and employers as well as spotlights attributes of impactful internship programs.
Kicking off season 2, Bobbi Sullivan, Assistant Director of Business Career Services at Iowa State University, converses with Mady Schmidt, Recruiter and Intern Program Lead at Co-op Solutions. Through their conversation, Mady uncovers how recruiters leverage LinkedIn to discover and connect with talent. Learn through Mady’s view how to make a LinkedIn profile standout, mistakes to avoid, and tips for messaging.
We are wrapping up Season 1 of the podcast with an interview of the new incoming president of CPI! Liz Hergert is originally from the Amana Colonies, but attended Iowa State University for college and is now a Career Education Coordinator at ISU in the LAS Career Services office. Listen in as Liz discusses her CPI goals for the next year including increasing ways for CPI members to build a network and increasing data driven employer feedback tracking.
Hello, everyone, and welcome to the career professionals Iowa College to Careers Podcast. I'm your host, Robert Frederick. I currently serve as the President of the Career Professionals of Iowa, or CPI, and also serve as the Director of Career Services at the University of Northern Iowa. Career Professionals of Iowa members include career services professionals from Iowa's community colleges, iowa's private colleges and universities, and Iowa's Regent Universities. The goal of our podcast is to explore the world of work, how it connects with colleges and employers, the pathways to post graduation success, the nature of recruiting internships, full time jobs, and concepts, ideas, and practices that help students go from college to career. In this episode, and it's going to be a great one. I have the pleasure of talking to Liz Herger, the incoming President of CPI. Liz is a career education coordinator at the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Iowa State University. Welcome to the podcast, Liz.
U2
1:20
Thanks so much. I'm really excited to be here, Robert.
U1
1:24
Oh, I'm excited that you are here, and thank you for stepping up to become President of Career Professionals of Iowa. It's nice when people volunteered to commit to continuing the success of this wonderful organization.
U2
1:37
Well, I feel like I've seen some excellent presidents in the past, so I think I got some big shoes to fill.
U1
1:43
Your shoes are the right size. Hey. A little about yourself. Just kind of like your background, where you come from. Sure.
U2
1:50
Yep. So I am from the Amana colonies, and if anyone on the podcast is from Amana or the surrounding area, I feel like the first question I always get asked is, are you Amish? And so I'd like to just set the records straight here today. Explain that every room from Amana has modern technology and we are not Amish. So yeah. Grew up in Amana. I have a twin sister. She lives in Cedar Rapids, works as a nurse.
U1
2:19
Yeah. 2s Well, when you say Amanda colonies, 1s I went to the University of Iowa as an undergrad and going out to the 1s what's? One of the colonies?
U2
2:31
Okay, great question. Yeah. So I live in Middle Amana, so that giant lily lake is in my parents'backyard. It's just like two minutes from Main Amana.
U1
2:42
That is so do you do the old Oktoberfest action while you're there?
U2
2:48
You bet. I feel like you cannot grow up in Amana and not go back for 2s my so my dad managed the meat shop in Amanda for like several years and we are all into it. Like broth sauerkraut. Some people choose to dress up that's not me. But respect it. I respect the people who do.
U1
3:10
We have a huge Oktoberfest celebration every year in Waverley. Actually, my wife is the co founder of and I am a perpetual volunteer of and. So I do like to throw on the later hose in once in a while. So good for you. 2s So give us a little background. What do you do at State University?
U2
3:32
Yes. Yep. So my job title is career education coordinator, which you've already mentioned, which essentially means that I oversee the required career prep course for all liberal arts and sciences students at Iowa State. 1s So this is an eight week course that's offered online in person, and it pretty much walks them through anything from application material, job internship tips, salary negotiation, interview prep. And the reason we kind of actually created this class is we've heard a lot from students when they're submitting their grad outcomes information and they're like, oh, I wish I had a class that taught me about resume. I wish I had a class that helped me understand how to find an internship. And so it's been a process. It wasn't required. It just got approved to be required for students. And so all students starting fall 2024 will be required to take it in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.
U1
4:28
Right, yeah. I know the curriculum process at universities is a little complicated. Yes, that sounds great. 2s Along the way, does that mean students met with you besides just the follow up data and their input was part of the design, or did you meet with other places on campus that already do this? Yeah, that's a really good question and I should have prefaced this in my last response. So I am like about two months into this 1s from Tessa. She's the director now, and I know that Tessa has met with several people who do have required courses and has taken a lot of their insight to develop the class previously. Before Tessa was in it, there was another person, Angela Wagner, and she really was the first one to set it up. And she came from Business Career Services where they've had a required course.
U2
5:23
I would say it's just been this constant, which I think all classes should know. Teach the class, get feedback from the students, evaluate, make changes as necessary. Yeah,
U1
5:33
that sounds great. Really exciting work. Yeah. 1s So with respect to CPI, talk about your activities, engagement, thoughts about career professionals of Iowa. Yeah,
U2
5:46
I should tell you, I think gosh back when I would state for six years and I've worked in several offices there. So the first time that I went to a CPI conference was like fresh out of college and I was in my first real job and I remember going and I was like, this is so like you have those needs, large scale. Right. But it doesn't really feel like. 1s Iowa's home. I feel like we all are kind of doing the same thing here, but we're all so close too. So I think I've attended every single CPI conference except this year I think will be my first one that I haven't. And 2s I've done the CPI mentor program, so I've been a mentee, now I'm a mentor. I've done the networking, the PDP networking. I think that's so fun just to meet people and then now I'm going to be moving into the President role. So, yeah, really excited. I think this is a great organization. What I love most about this is just the opportunities for you to network with people in Iowa who are doing similar things. And I often say we don't need to reinvent the wheel. Probably someone else has had this problem in the past, we should be talking more. And I think the P to P networking and the CPI mentor program, I feel like all of those are in the conference as well. Just great ways to kind of just learn from each
U1
7:06
other. Yeah. I've always deeply appreciated the opportunity to connect with colleagues. 2s It's not a huge number of people who have the privilege of doing career counseling and working in this space and it's fun to meet people who are experts in their field with respect to careers as well. So I agree 100%. It makes it a lot of fun. So you're coming in, you somehow got talked into being president and here you are. So what are you thinking? Are your goals and ideas with respect to the new role you're about to begin in
U2
7:42
July? Yes, I have a lot of ideas. I'm not sure if they're going to come to fruition, but I think one of the first things that I feel like I'd really like to do is just get some feedback from the members and just kind of learn where they're at, what resources, what topics do they feel like CPI can help them with. So to anyone listening, I would say probably expect a survey coming out just to get a little bit more about how they feel like CPI can support them. But outside of that, and I think that will also kind of help the executive committee decide what projects, trainings, whatever to kind of pursue to help our members. But I think some other really cool things. And again, I'm not sure this is like big topic, so we'll see what happens. But I think something that Nace does that's really cool, that I would love to see CPI maybe take on is a little bit more of.
U1
8:41
A little bit more of the data and the employer interactions and interface. So, again, not sure if it's feasible, not sure if it will come to fruition. But I think it'd be really cool to kind of do more surveys and get more of that feedback from employers in terms of anything such as, like sometimes we even get questions. It'd be something simple, like a question about 1s do you prefer, like, a professional summary on a resume or do you not? Or tell us, does your organization use an applicant tracking system? To what extent? I think that this can really help us as career professionals deliver that feedback that we're hearing from employers that are currently in the field right. Trying to recruit students. So something like that, I think would be really cool. Still kind of thinking through it. And then I'd also like to 1s kind of do a similar event to what we did. Gosh, oh, man, how many weeks ago was it? Maybe like a month ago in Des Moines with the Greater Des Moines Partnership.
U2
9:39
The connection with career professionals, with employers, I think is so important. And I know it takes a little bit of planning, but events like those where you can hear again from those employers about what they're seeking, I think is just critical to us as experts in the field. Right. And so I would love, love to try and do that in the Cedar Rapid Diva City area and. 2s I think that it's going to take a little bit of planning, maybe. I'm not sure if there's ever been one in the past. Do you know if there's ever been?
U1
10:10
Yeah, there has. And also there's ongoing conversations, right? 2s Yeah. Because obviously 1s the Greater Debut Development Corporation really got this kicked off and 1s Kristen Diesel was the first one to really get that's going. Mandy dolson now does it in dubuque. And then just talking with Janae Sikik over the spring and really encouraging her and sending her information about how this is done other places, and then having Des Moines do that. Des Moines partnership do that. I mean, you obviously saw the value of think I think the second largest city in Iowa is Cedar Rapids. So it's like the corridor should probably do something like this. Quite frankly, I'd love to see something out on the western part of the state as well, whether it's the Sioux land area or Council Bus Omaha area and even the Quad Cities. But you're right, when you get 20 employers plus in a room and you can meet with all of them in just one day, it's two really important things are happening there. One is from an employer development side. I love connecting with all the employers I can, but the second piece is just the information share the current state of employment talent acquisition onboarding, how they recruit, who they recruit. 1s I think probably there's a third thing that I always try to do, which is I try to inform the employers, too. Right. 1s Because a lot of times I've talked to employers like, oh, we're looking for certain kinds of people we want to recruit. 1s I think it's important to give them feedback as well, like who you send to the fair matters and when you only select certain majors instead of all majors, you're eliminating some incredible talent and skill sets are changing. So I think CPI has a great role to play in this is as a collective of career professionals. I agree. I think we have a voice that can be used to not only understand what's happening on the employer side, but also influence employers, as you know. Hopefully, Liz, you'll get the opportunity to have a career day down at the Capitol. We were hoping to get that this past year, but obviously our idea of doing it didn't coincide with how early you have to register a spot. 1s So I will be happy to share that with information with you so you can try to secure a table in the Capital when they're in session, which is an incredibly busy schedule, as it turns out.
U2
12:44
Yeah, I have this giant list of, I don't know, it's just on my desktop right now. It's called CPI info dump. And like, yes, the capital is on there too. So these are just ideas bouncing around, excited to get the whole executive team together and just kind of. Start laying out some plans.
U1
13:01
Yeah, there's amazing people over the years, great people involved in the organization, but also in leadership. And it's been really fun to see people from different types of institutions, different levels of experience, but passionate about helping young people with careers, and that's been really fun. 2s When you think about the next year and being involved with CPI and some of your ideas, what's your kickoff going to be? You're going to give us, apparently, a video? Because you might want to tell the listeners, like, why won't you be at the conference? Where are you going to be?
U2
13:41
Yes, I know. I'm so sad. I feel like, again, I think I've been to every single conference and then the one that I think really matters. Right, I won't be. So I'm attending the Nace Management Leadership Institute, which Robert, have you been to it before? Have you sent some people?
U1
13:57
So I have sent people,
U2
13:59
yeah. That's what I thought. Yeah. It's just I think a really
U1
14:03
I existed long before it existed, so people since
U2
14:10
shoot, they just unfortunately overlap. So I will be at the Naise Management Leadership Institute when the conference is happening this summer, but instead I'm going to send a short video in again, kind of similar to today, talking about myself and kind of what my goals are as far as what I want to kick it off with. Oh, gosh, I'm not sure if I super duper have that answer, but 1s I think probably what listeners should just be prepared for is just to expect that survey to come out and we just want to hear a little bit from them, right. So that the team can serve them in the best way. Right. That's kind of my vision as president, just to give back to the members and make sure we're doing things that they want us to do and that they need help
U1
14:56
with. Yeah, I agree. That's great. 1s I was thinking back a few minutes ago, you'd mentioned the P to P program, and I have loved that myself. I've really enjoyed that time to connect with somebody who I don't know, sometimes 1s just to have an hour to chat with someone. Wow, that's been really fun. So 1s it's a cool way to network, isn't it?
U2
15:20
It really is. And it's interesting because it. I would say kind of like our counterparts at Uni or at Iowa. I'm like, wow, this is the first time I've talked to you and we are doing very similar things. And then I talked to one person, right, and they're like, well, you should really connect with this person. At Iowa they teach one of the careers courses and I'm like, oh, that's so great. And so networking often leads to more networking.
U1
15:45
Super. So how can people get in touch with Liz, obviously beginning in July becoming President, if someone wants to reach out and connect with you, what's the best way for that to happen? I
U2
15:57
mean, they can certainly connect with me on LinkedIn, but I'm also open to just sending me an email. 1s So my email is Ehert at ifstate.edu and then I think my LinkedIn is Elizabeth Hergart or Liz Hergert. Liz Hergt. I'd have to double check.
U1
16:16
Yeah. 1s Awesome. Yeah. Well, Liz, first off, thank you again for your willingness to serve as President. Thank you for the opportunity to spend some time chatting with you this morning. It's been always fun. Your upbeat positivism is going to know just wonderful throughout this next year. Looking forward to the many things you're going to be able to accomplish as our next CPI President and I hope you have a lovely time and learn a lot at the Management Institute as well. Enjoy your summer and thanks a lot.
U2
16:48
Thanks so much Robert. This has been super fun.
Robert Frederick, the President of Career Professionals of Iowa and Director of Career Services at UNI, sits down virtually with David Ottavianelli of John Deere. Robert and David discuss how John Deere recruiting has changed as the workforce has changed and specific skills John Deere looks for. Tune in as Robert and David talk recruiting veterans, a day in the life of working at John Deere, and the ins and outs of the company.
Hello, everyone, and welcome to the career professionals of Iowa College to Careers Podcast. I'm Robert Frederick, the current President of CPI and also the Director of Career Services at the University of Northern Iowa. Career Professionals of Iowa membership includes career services professionals from across the state Iowa's community colleges, Iowa's private colleges, its private universities, and its state region universities as well. The goal of our podcast is to explore the work of both colleges and employers in creating pathways to post graduation success, the nature of recruiting internships, and full time jobs and concepts, ideas, and practices that help students go from college to a career. In this episode, I have the absolute pleasure of talking to David Otavionelli from John Deere. David is the director of Workforce and community development programs for John Deere and also a veteran of the US. Army. Welcome to the podcast, David.
U2
1:15
Hey, Robert. It's a pleasure to be with you. Thank you for bringing me on to talk about this exciting work and a number of different opportunities to engage with students across the state.
U1
1:27
It's absolutely my pleasure. It's been fun getting to know you for the past couple of years, and you're such a great ambassador for John Deere, and I want to know how you got to where you're at. Tell me a little bit about yourself and how you got into this role.
U2
1:40
It's a long story, but quick version of it. So, I'm actually originally from Massachusetts. I went to the United States military academy and then joined the US. Army. After graduating from the academy and served nine years as an infantry officer in US. Army. After nine years of service, I decided to get out and enter the civilian sector and after a couple of interviews, decided upon John Deere up in Waterloo, Iowa. Then that's where I first started. I spent my first two years in supply management and then had a number of different positions in operations leadership at our Waterloo facility and then down at our combine factory in east moline. After those operations related experiences, I transitioned over into our corporate headquarters, a role there in strategy and planning, and then into our labor relations department, where now I help lead our workforce and community development programs to help develop those future workforce and to help meet our needs going into the future.
U1
2:53
Wow. That is an excellent path. So, first off, thank you for your service. I appreciate that. Secondly, it sounds like you've had a single job with lots of different stops along the journey and to the point now where you're interested in that talent acquisition, developing workforce, being engaged in the community. Obviously, that's our audience. We've got folks from all over the state working in career offices and are looking for ways to connect with John Deere. Give me a little bit of sort of a background real quick for those who don't know. I'd be surprised if they don't. What is John Deere? How big is it? Where is it located? Just anything you can tell me about that awesome organization where I get to wear my green John Deere shirt all the time.
U2
3:33
A lot of people know about John Deere. Over 82,000 employees worldwide, manufacturing over 30 different countries, make great products to support our customers, help feed and shelter the world. We're also becoming a technology giant with the introduction of a smart industrial and kind of that technology that helps our customers, farmers, and infrastructure workers be more productive in what they do. We have 16 major manufacturing sites in the United States. A majority of those a large number of those are located in Iowa, Illinois, Wisconsin, and North Dakota. We have smaller facilities scattered throughout the Southeast, and we also support a number of independently owned dealer networks that work directly with our customers that are scattered across the United States.
U1
4:28
All. Excellent. Huge organization. My father is a retiree from John Deere and Dubuque, actually, and my sister in law works for John Deere in Des Moines, and she writes software for your automated tractors. Pretty cool. Hey, let's talk a little bit about what you're looking for. I mean, I know you're on the workforce side. You're looking at trying to recruit people. What do you want? What are you looking for? What do you need? Our audience is mostly going to be college students, but you've got a big bandwidth of people you're looking for. Walk us through what you're looking for at John Deere.
U2
5:01
Yeah. Robert, back about four years ago, as our senior leaders leaders visited those large factories that you talked about in the state of Iowa, we knew that, hey, we had a challenge of finding that future workforce. And we also knew, due to the changing demographics of what was out there and the availability of people, that we had to do something dramatically different. So our initial focus was on those production skill trades, roles that support the manufacturing and building of those products, specifically in factories like Waterloo, Dubuque, Davenport, Des Moines, Otumwa, Payton, et cetera, across the state. And that's in those primary roles, they're focused on manufacturing to include welders, CNC, machinists, assemblers, electricians, skilled trades, a number of those folks. To do that. We quickly also saw challenges in some of those technical related fields to include It software engineering, data analytics that continue to grow, and also a wide range of different roles from operations, leadership, supply chain, human resources, finance, and accounting, the wide gamut of different opportunities that really look at all options. Regardless if you're going on to get a certificate, a two year degree, or a four year degree, there's a number of different roles that you can fit in within the company that a lot of people don't realize.
U1
6:38
Yeah. 1s It sounds like with your acknowledgment of how the world is changing, the workforce is changing, there's quite a bit of the listing that you were kind of going through there that is really technology focused. Not necessarily that they're computer science majors, but it seems like technology is playing a bigger, bigger role in manufacturing artificial intelligence, intelligent augmentation. Are you seeing, like, skill sets changing for what you're looking for as you guys move forward?
U2
7:09
Absolutely. As that technology changes in our products, we also have to enhance and change that technology to support the manufacturing of those products. So there becomes really a critical need to learn those skills earlier in the cycle and a number of different things. That one of the key initiatives that we started to work on is to really increase high school student candidate pool of high school students and their awareness of these opportunities and also helping them gain those technical skills along a structured path earlier in their careers. 1s So one of the key initiatives that we worked on throughout the state, and in doing so, that combined, really the high school, community colleges, local businesses, et cetera, are Department of labor high school registered apprenticeship programs, for instance. Students can gain those technical skills to help them become a great candidate into those roles upon completion of those programs and graduation from high school, and then continue on to learn more through community college and four year degrees to help further enhance their careers. 1s Another area, Robert, that we saw, and that one of the key action items that we worked on is working with transitioning service members out of the military. They bring an incredible high level of technical skills learned throughout the military, accompanied with their leadership, their ability to work as a team, solve problems, and they become excellent candidates to help lead our workforce and participate in those development of those new programs, products, et cetera, to support our customers.
U1
9:01
You kind of have a unique approach to recruiting that subset of veterans. Skill bridge is part of that. You have your own internal programming as well. Want to share some more about kind of what John Deere has done to specifically target this subset, this veteran group?
U2
9:18
In August of 2020, we initiated our Skill Bridge program. John Deere has a member memorandum of understanding with the DoD, and we can be an individual Skill Bridge provider. That's been an excellent mechanism to help with transition service members, to give them the opportunity to do an internship within the last six months of their service obligation at a business. That helps them gain the skills to enter the workforce, both their behavioral skills and the technical skills, to become a great candidate for those potential roles. It helps companies gain great talent in doing so. And then third, which was a key finding in some of these studies, it helps our communities grow, and it tracks either folks from Iowa or folks who are not from Iowa to come back to our state and to help build that workforce.
U1
10:22
All. 1s It's really an amazing program. And I understand that the pay for that individual is coming from the Department of Defense yet, right? Is that correct?
U2
10:32
That's correct. Right. During the last six months while they're doing this internship, the service members are still active duty, part of active duty, and their pay is provided by the DoD at that point.
U1
10:48
What an amazing program. And I know you guys have your own memorandum on understanding with the DoD on that, but it sounds like there might be some progress toward maybe the state of Iowa as part of our overall program future ready Iowa, Home Base Iowa. There's some talk about maybe having an MoU at the state level. Is that still going on?
U2
11:09
Yeah. So on April 4, we met as a group through the state to talk about this and get some initiatives going around military hiring. That was one of the key items that came out of this, is how to establish the state as quickly as possible as a potential 1s skill bridge provider to help smaller businesses, community colleges, and school pools gain access to a potential candidate pool that today 1s will be enhanced.
U1
11:45
Awesome. What a great opportunity for the state of Iowa. So let me circle back to gender. One of the keys for us as career counselors, as people working in our field, is when a student asks us about an organization. We love to share about that organization, and more than just sort of the facts, but sometimes more about the culture, the ethos, kind of what's it like to work there. What's a day in the life look like you want to share some more about maybe not the technical pieces, but more of the culture, the ethos, sort of the day in the life kind of experience. A young person who's just getting out of college and going to work would get a sense of a John Deere.
U2
12:30
I've been with the company for over 24 years. Every day has been exciting. I'm proud to be part of this company and proud to do the work that we do and have the opportunity to help our communities. What a number of people see a new team members 2s that they see when they come to the company is this higher sense of purpose of helping farmers and infrastructure workers feed and shelter the world that resonates with a lot of people. You're making a purpose for what you're doing every day, and you can see the results in our great products that you reproduce, and you can see the impact that it has on our customers. There are similar core values of integrity, quality, commitment and innovation that resonate extremely well with people. Another key element is we're based on team based environment. We're focused on supporting our customers and looking for leaders to help improve daily and have that continuous improvement mindset to be change agents and bring in different perspectives. There's incredible opportunities for growth, and we're a market leader in pay and benefits.
U1
13:44
Thanks. 1s When I think about some of the people I've known over the years who've worked for John Deere, in some cases, they are able to locate in a particular place and they stay there their whole career. In other cases, I've had friends who seems like they move every two years. 1s Help me understand where people go and how that works.
U2
14:05
Yeah. So what's great about the company is up to you. If you want to travel and do different potential opportunities across the globe, that is something that you can consider. If you want to stay in one location and do multiple operations. Our facilities are large and have many opportunities. For instance, in Waterloo, a lot of people may not know we actually have a foundry right in a drivetrain component machining area, drivetrain assembly, our own engine facility, a tractor cab assembly in an engineering center. That's unheard of in most manufacturing today. And it gives you an opportunity to stay in one location and to have multiple roles in multiple experiences, if that's what you desire.
U1
14:53
Yeah. So when you're talking, you go to a career fair and you're having a conversation. 1s What are you hearing from the student? What questions are they asking of you? I'm just curious because I've asked the other employers I've interviewed the same thing, and everybody hears something different. So I'm just curious, when a student walks up to you and they're having a conversation, what are you hearing from them? What are they looking for? What do they
U2
15:17
want? Most students will want to know, hey, what's the career progression? Right? What's my initial kind of pay? What's my experiences? But what's my career progression? And the guidance and advice that I give them is, come in. 1s Do the best job that you can do. That is the greatest element of your current resume. They'll make an impact on your future. 1s And don't be spending too much time looking for that next job, but constantly look at how you can do the best in your role and really be a subservient leader, right? And take care of people and understand the human element of this, not only the technical and tactical execution of it, but understanding people will help you gain a better understanding of how the company is going to perform.
U1
16:10
You know, that's a great point. It's so interesting because I know what you make, and yet in many instances, what you're still about is you're a people business. And whether it's farmers, whether it's the people, you know, who put their hands to manufacturing and making things, the engineers, the technical people. You're right. I mean, I think when I think of John Deere, I think of a people business, 82,000 people. I didn't realize it was that big, but a lot of people. But yeah, obviously where I'm located, it makes a major impact. They're a big part of our community in a really positive way, including on our campus at the University of Northern Iowa, obviously a great partner. Do you have any specific partnerships with higher education institutions to do internal educational advancement, or is that something still like the individual is encouraged and supported, but they still find their own way when it comes to maybe keeping the train moving toward their next degree or their next certificate?
U2
17:09
Yeah. And all that would be at an individual basis. Right. So we have certain guidelines around tuition reimbursement to help those employees with that schooling, but it's based upon their individual plans and their desires of what they want to do, and a lot of employees take advantage of it. And these partnerships with the schools are critically important, not only for students that are starting out, but even interns. And some are part time student roles. And those are great experiences and great roles to get your foot in the door and to get your network and grow your network when it comes time for that full time job, you got folks asking for you rather than you asking for what jobs are available.
U1
17:59
Right? Yeah. We have a huge number of students that you and I, who take advantage of the part time student employee program 1s every year. I mean, it's just incredible. That's been a great addition to your talent acquisition and recruiting side. Hey, if you were going to send a message out to all these wonderful people who do career work across the state community colleges, private colleges, private universities, and the Regents universities, what would you want to say to that group right now, today?
U2
18:27
There's tons of opportunities within our facilities here at john deere in a wide range of different occupations, from your assemblers to your skilled work to the welders CNC machinists and those certificates that typically come out of the high schools and community colleges. Data analytics in that engineering footprint continues to grow. So further education and growing in there, it takes a partnership of all the different entities to include high schools, community college, four year colleges and businesses to create these pipelines. 1s There's tons of opportunities to do that that equal great paying opportunities, careers that you can get started that can branch off and go many different paths. You may start in one area and find out that you're passionate about another area and the company is going to support you on that.
U1
19:29
That is awesome. Excellent. Excellent. How in what way should we get in touch with you if there's one of our career folks who wants to get more engaged with John Deere?
U2
19:41
So we're building out our community outreach teams and our military recruiting teams. Anyone can inquire directly for any of those contacts from the state level to the four year community colleges or high schools through my personal work email. And that would be ottavianlidavidf at john deere. And then also for our veterans transitioning service members. Veterans folks can look go to our john deere military hiring site. All transitioning service members, veterans, spouses, national guardists or reservists can fill out a contact card to express interest at our john deere military hiring program site. And that is at www.deer.com. 1s Backslashjdmhp and just by filling out that simple contact card, we'll have a veteran reach out to you just to have initial conversation about potential
U1
20:49
matches. Yeah. Who did I just talk to the other day? 1s Jess maddie, right. One of yours? Yes. What a great person. You could tell. The passion, the enthusiasm. Air Force veteran. I mean, it's amazing. You do have people like that who are going to go out and make that call, have that conversation and super great program. I'm really proud of that. John Deere offers that up and I'm sure you are, too. So I can't thank you enough. I can't thank you enough.
U2
21:22
Go for it. Let me add a few to put in here. Okay. So another thing that people may not realize is our extensive network of dealerships that have opportunities scattered throughout the state to include, of course, technicians, but also those professionals, sales, customer support, management, inventory, logistics to support those operations. And there's a number of incredible opportunities for folks to consider there
U1
21:57
is. It still the case where if somebody is interested in that aspect of working for John Deere in the dealership level, they have a training program, they'll get people up to speed. If I show up and I'm a farm kid and I've worked on tractors most of my life, but I'm not formally trained, is there a program where they're going to be like, we can get you from here to there?
U2
22:24
Absolutely, and all that's on an individual basis, once again, but they'll train you. Right. So you don't necessarily have to have the skills, but you can come in and once again, be a good learner, 1s show initiative, and the dealerships will coordinate all that training for you to become certified in that area.
U1
22:45
Wow. So many channels and opportunities. David, this is really amazing. 1s Can't thank you enough for taking time out of your day. We know you're one of the largest employers in the country, let alone the Midwest, and you make a big impact for the state of Iowa in so many ways. But appreciate the open door, appreciate the opportunity to not only talk with you, to learn how to engage with and to have a direct contact. Sometimes it's the nicest thing of all, because when you get really big, sometimes you don't know who to call. And your willingness to be the person is greatly appreciated by all of us who work in career services. So I appreciate your time and hope you have a great rest of your
U2
23:26
day, sir. Thank you, Robert. Thank you for this opportunity to share our story.
Robert Frederick, the President of Career Professionals of Iowa and Director of Career Services at UNI, sits down virtually with recruiter and internship program leader Crystal Ford of BerganKDV. BerganKDV is a midwest based public accounting firm that has a robust internship program and a thriving company culture. Listen in as Robert and Crystal discuss her passion for the company and the competitive nature of recruiting for accounting professionals.
Transcript:
U1
0:00
1s Hello, everyone, and welcome to career professionals of Iowa College to Careers Podcast. I'm your host, Robert Frederick, current CPI President and the Director of Career Services at the University of Northern Iowa. Career Professionals of Iowa membership includes career services experts from Iowa's community colleges, private colleges, private universities, and the Iowa Region Universities. The goal of our podcast is to explore the work of both colleges and employers in creating pathways to post graduation success, to discuss the nature of recruiting, to gain knowledge about internships and full time job opportunities, and any other concepts, ideas and practices that help our students go from college to career. In this podcast, I'm excited to interview one of the best recruiters in the Midwest, a woman who is passionate about her work and whose enthusiasm is infectious. I'm, of course, talking about Crystal Ford, shareholder and east region leader at Bergen K DV. Welcome, Crystal.
U2
0:59
Wow, that is quite the introduction. Thank you so much for the kudos for having me here with you today. It is so nice to have you here. I've gotten the pleasure of working with you for a number of years now, and I'm always impressed with the enthusiasm and just the
U1
1:16
way you represent Bergen. So can we just start first, though, by talking a little bit about yourself and your background?
U2
1:25
Thanks. Absolutely. I started with Bergen KDB, I believe, about five years ago. 1s And prior to working at Bergen KDB, I worked in a large company that was very kind of private, had a lot of policies and procedures, didn't have a lot of wiggle room. Transitioned to working for an entrepreneur where there was all the wiggle room in the world, and then found my home at Bergen KDV, where I absolutely adore that we can live our authentic lives, be ourselves, and ultimately support each other. And it's just the best place to be. And it's been an amazing journey. One of my other roles in the firm, besides being the regional leader and also a share holder as I lead our internship program, and that's something that I greatly enjoy. I love college students. I love kind of the twinkle in their eye of trying to explore what they want to do, where they're going, and it gives us an opportunity to show them the amazing world of public accounting.
U1
2:36
That is awesome. Well, tell us a little bit more about Bergen itself.
U2
2:42
Sure. So we are a Midwest based CPA firm. We are really that mid market size. So not incredibly small, not incredibly huge. And to me, I think that mid market size is kind of the sweet spot for me personally. So we have locations up to Minneapolis, St. Cloud down to Waterloo, Cedar Rapids, Coralville, des Moines, Kansas City, Omaha, and our newest location in Rapid City. So really that Midwest is our presence. But we have clients all across the United States, even internationally. So I always say it's kind of people clients that started in the Midwest, but they might have transitioned outside of the area. We have about 650 employees across all of our locations, 1s and it's really amazing what we can do to help our clients just with solving complex business problems. And that might be traditional tax and audit. It might be our technology team helping a client with their technology needs at their business. Could be wealth management, payroll. It's really anything that supports our clients.
U1
4:00
Oh, that is awesome. Really a big, broad scope. I mean, I know you're a Midwest company, but you have so many things going on in so many places. That's fantastic. I'm going to circle back to what you said just a few minutes ago about the internships. How do you recruit full time professionals? How do you recruit interns? Walk us through that process.
U2
4:22
Sure. Well, anybody that it works with the field of accounting knows recruiting is tough in the accounting space. It is just a challenge. One, there's not as many students that go into the field of accounting, so that just automatically makes the population smaller that you can recruit. And then with it being so competitive, you have to start early with really partnering with colleges and universities to have exposure to the accounting students from a pretty early point in their academic journey. 2s I feel like by the time somebody has reached their senior year of college, they likely have a full time job offer for after graduation, which is amazing 1s and hard from a recruiting lens. The field of accounting has a lot of fruitful opportunities after graduation. So highly recommend any student that's exploring different opportunities to look into accounting. It's definitely in demand, but for us, we know that one of the keys is really having authentic relationships with the colleges and universities, being there to help with mock interviews, guest speaking opportunities, anything that we can do to really partner with the schools. We love that. I love that we'll be at a career fair and people run up crystal crystal because they've seen me in the classes or in the halls or speaking or whatever it may be. And I think building that relationship is awesome. Whether they come to Bergen KTV or go to a different firm, be in public accounting, it's a great field period. Find your jam and what makes you happy from a firm perspective. I hope it's us at Bergen KDV, but if not, go into the profession, period. But I really think recruiting has to start, start early. 1s Otherwise those accounting students are gone. They're already accounted for and have jobs.
U1
6:40
And we absolutely see that at you and i. So I get where you're going there. We have seen in my time I've been here a few decades now, recruiting seniors to recruiting juniors to looking at sophomores, and going deeper into the bench, as it were, just to get the talent you need to continue to be able to be successful in your own organization. Could you talk about interns? Like, what do they do? Do what's their job, their roles look like? Are they paid? Do they have a place to stay? I mean, those are kind of the questions we end up getting at some point when we're talking with students who are thinking about different organizations to go to and be interns in. Can you walk us through what the intern world looks like a little bit?
U2
7:24
Sure. We have three different internship programs at bergen KDB. One is the traditional spring semester, so that january through april, spring semester, and I'll dive into that a little bit more. We also have a summer program which runs through the summer, and that program is really unique, where it's the only internship of ours where somebody can intern and try tax and audit during that time with us at the firm. Summers are traditionally a little bit slower, so it's easier to have students have that exposure to both. And then the third and final is an internship with our government team, so that's july through october, because that aligns with kind of the government deadline needs back to spring. Our internship program is just like being a staff member. It is getting to do all the things, see all the things, really have that experience to show what it's going to be like in life. Post graduation, they get treated with a lot of respect. They get to explore a lot of different things while they're with us. And one of the best compliments that I heard last week with some interns that I was meeting with, they said, I feel like I'm an equal to everyone across the firm. My voice is heard. People respect my input. They ask for my input. And to me, that's my goal. I tell interns on the first day, my mission is to have you leave your internship saying, I'm so glad I did this. If you leave saying, I'm so glad I did this, I've done my job. And whether somebody wants to continue their career with us, go to different firms. I want them to have an experience that they will always be grateful for having, and we continue to improve it each year. How can we get better? How can we take this to even the next level? And I feel like we do that every year. We try to up level that experience for our students. How
U1
9:34
many interns do you normally get in a year, then?
U2
9:38
Yes. So spring is the biggest and I always take 45. 45 is the number in spring. So that's a lot of interns. 1s Are there
U1
9:52
activities beyond the workday that you are engaging students in connecting them, young professionals, things like that?
U2
10:00
Yes, thanks for asking about that. We do a lot of different engagement type activities. We have coffee with a partner, we have different lunch and learns where our interns can connect with different parts of our business team across the whole entire firm. We have happy hours, so many different free lunches. That's one of the thing about tax season and kind of that audit season. We have so much food. 1s But the goal is to have people 1s network amongst themselves as interns with our different mixers we hold and also network with the professionals so that they can always have kind of those references and that enhanced network when they depart from our internship. So it's equally as important to give them the tools to successful in the job and equally important to give them the social component as well. Awesome.
U1
11:02
This could vary from industry to industry, but what do you sort of hope for on a yield rate with interns? Like how many do you hope to keep after the internship is done?
U2
11:14
Right. I always say and joke that I would love to keep them all. I wish they would all stay and be a part of our Bergen KDD family. But I also know sometimes our experience is what fits best with their academic plan. Sometimes they're moving to maybe a location where we don't have a footprint. There are valid reasons why it might not work out for them to stay. 3s I'm trying to remember. I'm extending job offers next week, the next two weeks to all of our interns, and it is over half that I'm extending offers to out of that 45. And the craziest thing is that a couple of them are for 2025. So we are not afraid of hiring someone after they're done with their academic journey. Kind of gives them a peace of mind of go enjoy the rest of college, enjoy the moment, soak up all the different tools that you're going to gain in college and we'll see in a couple of years when you're ready for that full time employment, we have a signed offer waiting for you. Wow.
U1
12:25
That is amazing. Up to 2025.
U2
12:28
No. Isn't that wild? It's
U1
12:31
the world we live in, Crystal.
U2
12:33
It is the world we live in. But 1s I think a lot of the students find that as kind of peaceful and reassuring that they're not going to kind of face that challenge that sometimes people hear of graduating from college and they find a desert of job opportunities. That's not the case. And I think that kind of gives them a little bit of pep in their step as they finish out college.
U1
13:02
Do you? This isn't one of our planned questions, but do you ever find you have someone, a student who's really had a great experience, you send it an offer, maybe they're going to be another year in school. They become like a campus champion for you. They become a representative on campus for your organization.
U2
13:22
Great question. And some of the different universities we work with have started down that path of having ambassador programs, that partnership between employers and students. And we have started that partnership with the University of Iowa of having an ambassador on campus. So if anybody else out there is looking for an accounting ambassador, hit me up. I'd love to talk about Bergen KDB joining forces with different universities.
U1
13:53
I've seen more of it lately in the past few years, which is really again, it's interesting. When I see a student wearing the apparel of an organization, they've got handouts for the organization. I'm just like, Are you an ambassador for them? And they're like, oh, yeah.
U2
14:06
Sometimes they just do that naturally. And I think that almost means the most to me when it's just authentically shared about their experience with us at the firm. So sometimes they are wearing our Bergen KDB schwag because it's comfy and they're going to class, and they might be coming to work afterwards. But to me, I think that means the most when they say, hey, I'm interning at Bergen KDB. I've gotten to experience so much more than I ever thought. They're supportive. It's amazing. I'm so happy to be there. To me, that's the best way that our program can be. Evangelized
U1
14:44
yeah. That's awesome. I totally agree with you. Set aside the major for a second. A lot of organizations recruit for certain qualities, character qualities, skills, attributes. What do you look for in your candidates that beyond the degree?
U2
15:03
Sure. One of the most important things is somebody is coachable. 1s I would much rather have somebody that's on the lower side of the skill set but has a great attitude and is really able to be coached. To me, the most off putting characteristic is someone that comes in that says, I know everything. I don't need to learn anything from you. I know it all. To me, that's the most off putting thing because we're always as an industry, laws change, practices change. We have to practice being coachable ourselves. So it's incredibly valuable for somebody to have that same coachability so that we can help develop them and be there along the journey. 2s Unfortunately, sometimes that attitude and coachability is something that someone either has or doesn't. That can be that can be hard for someone to develop. But it's incredibly valuable to practice being coachable because it really is a workplace life skill.
U1
16:12
Yeah, that's excellent. Regarding work and future of work and the nature of work, tell us a little bit about in office remote work, out of office, pay, benefits, anything you want to share? Because there's such hybrid world right now in the world of work. How is KVD working on
U2
16:29
that? Oh, Robert, if I could take you back to COVID, I vividly remember the day that I had to notify I oversee three locations in the firm, so I had to notify all of my employees that we were going remote. Great news. We all can. We have all the tools, the VPN, we always have for this to be extremely seamless. I had people crying, you can't make me go remote. Just panicking and freaking out. And what's funny is, it was only a few days later, people were like, this is really just like being in the office. It says seamless and smooth. And I have a shareholder that works for me that she still will apologize and say sorry for that day and a little bit of freak out because she's now fully remote. She was a person that fought it, went home, ended up loving it, and that really enhances her world. We at Bergen KTV support whatever somebody does that makes them successful for working. Whether that's in office, hybrid, fully remote, it really is. You do. You you be successful, you enjoy life. I feel like remote working has been a game changer in the CPA profession, where you used to historically think of long hours in the office during tax season. That's different now when you can be home, eat dinner with your family, put your kids to bed, and then if you want to pick up your laptop and do a couple of different things, you can, I think, dramatically enhanced our work life balance. And it makes me happy that people are kind of dialing into what works for their style and being successful, because it's not one size fits all. It is all the sizes fit some. 2s Awesome. That is great. I really appreciate that overview. It is changing the way we all work, and even here at the university, it's changing the way we work. But I will say, working with young people, 1s they're very interested in hybrid work. So kudos to you for having that availability because it means a lot to them. Many of them actually went to high school, finished up in Isn't that amazing? Retreat. 1s Now they're here and they're actually on campus and they still half of their classes they're taking are hybrid or remote because they're like, oh yeah, it's easier for me. Or we'll do appointments with them and they're in their resident hall and they'd rather do it via Zoom than come over and it's just the way it's going to be. Yeah,
U1
19:23
that's great. It is
U2
19:25
a balance, though. There are certain things that sometimes you learn through Osmosis being in the office, and that's a fine balance too, of I just hope that even those that are fully remote still have those engagement points to not miss some of those things that I think do help in development. Some of our fully remote employees that are distant, that are far away, we still fly in several times a year for a week so that they can be in the office, have those relationships, and still get a little taste of it. So even if they're far away, we still try to occasionally make sure that that connection is strong and one based on support.
U1
20:14
You know, that's a great point. There's a lot of organizations we're talking to that are trying to maintain a culture and an ethos in their organization. And some of that is built around being together. And so you and others are doing the same, which is appreciating the opportunity to be hybrid and remote, but also realizing that we have something special here and we need to get people together to maintain and then push that forward as well. So and some of those practices we've continued from COVID there were things that we found were so fun. For example, later this afternoon, we have a virtual Luau happy hour. So we sent out to the offices to home all the different schwag for the luau. And we always do those virtual because we do breakout rooms, we have trivia different things, and then we mix everybody up. So some of those things, it just is more fun for it to be virtual so that we can kind of mix groups and people and teams that might not engage with one another on a regular basis, have that opportunity to network with each other. 9s Oh, great question. I'm on LinkedIn. If you want to find me on LinkedIn, you can also email me. Crystal Ford@bergenkdb.com I love anytime I can speak about the world of public accounting, anytime I can be a partner to career professionals, I just did eight mock and views for you and I this week and love that opportunity, too. A lot of those students are still at that point of exploring what they want to go into and figuring it out. And I love being a part of helping that. I'll shamelessly plug public accounting, don't get me wrong. But still, just the value of part of your academic journey is learning yourself, your passions, your skill sets. So anytime I can be of value to any college or university that's listening to this podcast, I'd love to help. Just something that really is a passion of mine in supporting young people on their career journey. 27s Thank you for that. And I enjoy all the things that you put on with the university. You do an amazing job. So just thank you so much for our partnership and thank you for having me here today. 4s Thank you. You too.
Robert Frederick, the President of Career Professionals of Iowa, sits down virtually with Lauren Minert of Kunkel & Associates in Dubuque, Iowa. Lauren is a University of Iowa alumni and has been working for Kunkel for five years in a variety of roles. Lauren is now their Human Resource Manager and loves to share her enthusiasm for Kunkel. Listen in as Robert and Lauren discuss the fascinating world of B2B commercial insurance, college recruiting, and the future of work.
