Daniels faculty Bud Bilanich has a proven strategy for landing a position.
Bud Bilanich
When it comes to coaching students through their first job search, Bud Bilanich of the Daniels College of Business is a seasoned pro.
For the past 14 years, Bilanich has taught management courses like The Fourth Industrial Revolution, Leading High-Performance Organizations and a beloved freshman seminar on Critical Thinking. He’s an author and motivational speaker, with an uncanny ability to remember a student’s passing mention of an upcoming job interview—and follow up to see how it went.
“He’s so thoughtful, and you can tell he really cares about his students, which makes us all excited to go to class and learn from him,” said Julianna Crowley, a senior studying marketing, English and communications.
It’s evident in the way Bilanich helps students identify and successfully apply for the next step of their career—without scouring online job listings and sending resumes into the proverbial void.
“Chances are, you’re unlikely to generate an interview” from sites like Craigslist, said Bilanich, an associate teaching professor. “You need to be proactive and feel like you’re in charge of your job search.”
To get started, Bilanich has developed a three-step strategy to outline a student’s goals and play to their strengths.
1. Identify what you want to do.
Ideally, Bilanich said, a career fits somewhere in between what a student likes to do, what they’re good at and the kind of lifestyle they desire. He guides students through deeper conversations about their hobbies and the things they are proudest of.
“You want to think about how you want to spend your life,” Bilanich said.
When Crowley started interviewing for jobs in sales, she reached out to Bilanich, who teaches her Sales Management and Leadership class. Crowley had developed a knack for marketing through the DU Sales Club and was excited about joining the industry. But she had some jitters about the interview process.
During their conversation, Crowley shared how much she loved the time she spent serving as the president of her sorority, Gamma Phi Beta. Bilanich suggested that she consider a career in recruiting.
“In a normal sales job, you’re selling a product. But in the recruiting business, you’re almost selling a career,” Crowley said. “It feels a lot more natural for me, and [Bilanich] helped me draw that conclusion.”
For students who want to explore their options, Bilanich suggests taking internships, joining clubs, attending campus events, and even enrolling in classes that might spark a new interest, even if they don’t count toward a major. In one anecdote he likes to share, a friend from his college years took a flower-arranging class on a whim. After spending years in a high-stress fashion industry job, she opened a flower shop, and finally found happiness.
“The more open you are to experiencing other things, the easier it is to come to an idea of what you like doing with your life,” Bilanich said.
2. Identify where you’d like to be.
Once students identify the kind of job they’d like to have, Bilanich suggests making a shortlist of 8-10 places that they would like to work.
Companies, nonprofits, and even government institutions can all have roles that align with a job seeker’s goals and values. A student pursuing accounting might gravitate toward a Big 4 firm (Deloitte, PwC, EY or KPMG), or an accounting position within a company, for example.
A job seeker can brainstorm industries that pique their interest, and then research the big players in that industry, Bilanich said. A student can prioritize potential employers in a city or cities where they would like to live. Working for a large multinational might create opportunities to travel, while a smaller mom-and-pop shop might offer a great work-life balance. Or they may seek employers that make a positive impact on the world around them.
“How your values align with what you’re doing is really important,” Bilanich said. “You can’t work for a company or in an industry where you’re not aligned with what they’re doing.”
Once that list of 10 employers is written down, it’s time to start networking.
3. Find a connection to someone within that company—and get introduced.
Daniels Career Services, the Crimson Constellation platform, faculty or professional groups like the Management Club can be excellent places to start your networking efforts. LinkedIn can also help you identify people who work at a company where you’re interested. Bilanich suggests reaching out with an email to introduce yourself, say you’re interested in working for the company, and offer to meet for coffee.
“I’ve found that most people are willing to help, especially if there’s a connection,” Bilanich said. “You’ve just got to put yourself out there. The worst that can happen is they say no or never get back to you.”
Early conversations can give you a sense of whether people enjoy and feel fulfilled while working at your target company. You can find out what kinds of qualities these employers are looking for in job candidates.
A human connection can also have a very practical benefit after you send in a job application. Many employers use artificially intelligence to screen applicants, before they’re reviewed by human resources.
“Robots are looking at you in the first go-round. They can be fickle,” Bilanich said. “Build a relationship with someone in the company, and then that person can always override the AI system.”
And then?
Once you identify a position that you’d like to apply for, make sure your application is unique and tailored for the job.
Enter what Bilanich calls the BAR—the Big A** Resume. Especially for active job seekers, he suggests creating a giant, centralized list of work experience, internships, clubs, volunteering and extracurriculars. Then, it’s easier for a student to pick and choose from the list to tailor each resume for a potential new role, highlighting their experiences that fit the listing most closely.
“Job descriptions give you a hint of what you should be saying,” Bilanich said. “If they say we need a self-starter, somewhere in your resume it should say, ‘I’m a self-starter.’”
No matter how long it takes to get that first job, Bilanich encourages his students to keep trying. He sees his work as not just teaching students, but helping them live lives of purpose. And the care and attention he pays to each one who reaches out to him for help pays off.
Bilanich reminds his students to pay it forward, once they’re comfortably employed.
“Someone’s going to ask you for help too someday. And what you do to help them can come back to you in other ways,” Bilanich said. “It’s kind of karmic.”