Kyle Wehr, the current Career Services GA, began pursuing his MBA in the Professional & Managers program in the Quad Cities before joining the Full-time program in Iowa City this fall. Prior to joining the Full-time program, he worked in business development and event management. He hopes to pursue a career utilizing data analytics in a cross-functional role following graduation in May 2016.

Feel free to send questions for Kyle to answer in future newsletters by emailing [email protected].

The question for this month comes from a student at the Cedar Rapids site: "I hear a lot about networking. Why is this important?"

"Networking plays an important role in industry, even beyond your career pursuit. Building strong operational, strategic, and supporting networks allows for free information flow, keeps you in conversations regarding a variety of opportunities and possible problems, and lets you connect dots that you might not otherwise see. As students, we have a great opportunity to conduct informational interviews with alums or people from industry to learn from their experiences. These learning opportunities provide an outlet for us to build relationships with these individuals that could be very valuable to us in the future." - Kyle Wehr

Read more about career-related information interviewing on the  Tippie MBA-PM Facebook page.

Last month's webinar with Ellen Bartkowiak, MBA Career Coach from EllenCoaching, discussed the importance of being "on-brand" for Professionals & Managers. In this efficient webinar, you heard about the top three cutting-edge ways to update your brand so that it will work for you. She reviewed the three-step process to create your brand and highlighted tips to apply your MBA to your brand.

Take a few minutes to be ready for any situation; those few minutes could make the recruiter call you, the manager hire you, or the boss promote you. Contact Ellen at [email protected] to discuss your brand and how you are representing your most important commodity: you. Start being "on brand" today!

Building a strong LinkedIn Summary will help your profile receive more views and encourage visitors to engage with you. The summary is applicable for everyone and may be beneficial to yourself, your team, and your organization. People want to help others obtain their goals. By summarizing your goals along with your skills and past results, others can begin to envision ways they may be able to help you achieve your goals.

Beyond B-School offers a video on how to develop an impactful and compelling LinkedIn Summary. Watch the video to learn more! (Click on "Video Library," then "How to Build a Great LinkedIn "Summary"."