Connections are Crucial

Village for Future Leaders of Business and Industry at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pa., during the summer of 2016. U of Mary sends only two business students each year for the fiveweek intensive course aimed at teaching young professionals business, culture and leadership skills. Her class included 83 people ages 18 to 39 from 49 countries.

The experience was amazing, she says, adding her favorite and most valuable part was making connections with people from all over the world. “I learned so much,” she says. “It gave me a new perspective on different countries. When I think of a country, it’s a person I think of, not a random place on a map.”

About A Career

While Haagenson hasn’t started applying for post-graduation jobs quite yet, she knows what she’s looking for in an employer. “I really want to work for an organization that lives out its values,” she says, emphasizing the necessity of those values syncing with hers — social responsibility, promoting human dignity and respect for employees as well as clients.

She says she found all those crucial values, and more, during a summer internship at Discovery Benefits in Fargo. (Yes, she confirms, it’s the company with an enormous slide in the office.) While there, her decision to emphasize an HR aspect of her business administration career was cemented, as she learned the significance of quality training and job development for employees. She hopes to intern at Discovery again during her college career.

About the Job Market

Companies are actively recruiting college students, Haagenson says, as the region grapples with a workforce shortage. Career fairs, internships and other opportunities give companies a chance to get in front of Haagenson and her peers — the next generation of the workforce. And it’s not uncommon for internships to lead to full-time, post-graduation job offers. That, of course, is an enormous benefit for both the student and the company.

“The job search for a college student is ongoing, especially in the business sector,” Haagenson says, where networking is a must. Because, after all, connections are crucial. And she has no plans to leave the Upper Midwest.

LISA GIBSON Editor, Prairie Business 701.787.6753