T&M Experience

By Gillian Niezyniecki

Communication. It is the most fundamental way that we express ourselves. What every team has in common is the need to communicate and collaborate efficiently. T&M students had yet another opportunity to develop personally and professionally in a Business Improv workshop. This event was designed to teach us how to create a collaborative environment, become a better storyteller, and understand how energy and attitude can influence others.

By Esmée Vernooij

The time has come again. Engineering and Business students all over campus put on their pressed shirts and clean suit jackets as they geared up for career fair, hoping to connect with a recruiter at their dream company. Things looked a little different this year though; rather than shaking hands with recruiters, students are now wearing their sweatpants and tuning into the meeting process virtually.

By Ian Flueck

It is that time of year. The University campus comes alive with students, the weather slowly cools into a beautiful Illinois autumn, and companies turn their attention to recruiting the best and brightest to their talent pipelines. Facing perhaps one of the most challenging job markets in recent memory, the prospect of landing a summer internship or full-time position looms in many students’ minds.

By Esmee Vernooij

This past Thursday marked the start of the newest development in the T&M virtual experience. Spearheaded by Jinal Shah’s talk on building professional networks, the soft skills series is one that hopes to highlight the key professional skills that may not always be taught in the classroom. The series started as we eager aspiring professionals hopped onto Zoom.

By Stephanie Brand and Jacob Rich

Every year, the new T&M class is given a glamorous introduction into the program by way of corporate site visits. During the typical spring semester, a weekend is spent taking the new class to different corporate sponsor facilities around the midwest. The trip provides the students a glimpse into what their next two years will hold; unique exposure to the corporate world, meaningful relationships with peers, faculty, and industry professionals, and boundless opportunity. However, as with all aspects of our lives, the realities of a COVID-19 world have forced adaptation. Determined to provide as similar an experience as possible, the T&M community worked together to pioneer the first-ever virtual corporate sponsor trek for class XXVI. Trading in a seat on a bus for a bedroom, home office, or spot on the floor, and facility tours for Zoom calls and breakout rooms, we began the week eager and open-minded.

By Simran Bagga

I landed at JFK at around 2 PM on August 16, 2016 and set foot (for the first time) to the country that I would live in for the next 4 years of my life. Growing up, I lived in multiple different countries across multiple different continents – starting out in Mozambique and eventually moving to Dubai while staying close to India. However, this move for a 17 year old without knowing anyone on a campus of 50,000 people proved to be particularly challenging… until I met the right people of course! Navigating my time at UIUC, from a timid freshman to a confident graduate, was about stepping out of my comfort zone and allowing myself to grow into the individual that I knew I always wanted to be. The Hoeft Technology and Management Program played a significant role in allowing me to do this. With 3 days of post-graduation wisdom, I’d like to share some things that I think might help anyone who finds themselves in a similar position:

By Hilary Pham

I wrote this speech on March 15, the day before the announcement came that graduation was canceled. Even though it will never be heard in its intended form, I still wanted to share my reflections and favorite lessons learned while in undergrad. Hopefully, this can bring you a sense of normalcy and comfort in this time even if we can’t have a formal celebration.

By Madison Minnick

From the moment I walked onto campus at UIUC, it was my goal to be admitted into the Hoeft Technology and Management Program. While searching for colleges, I had been looking for a business-orientated minor to supplement my Computer Science major in a way that intertwined both business and engineering. I came across the T&M program, and it was one of the very few programs like it offered at universities in the country. Deciding where to attend college was a tough decision, but the prospect of being in the T&M program definitely influenced my decision to come across the country from Colorado to Illinois.

By Stephanie Brand

For students entering the professional world, there are a great number of things that are unfamiliar, and the prospect of acclimating to such a novel environment can be daunting. To avoid the risk of being exposed as an outsider, some may opt to make a quiet entrance into this new arena. To walk through the career fair as a quiet observer, to shield their resume from a critiquing eye, or suppress their urge to ask a probing question until they know the lay of the land. In her workshops “Focus on the Brand Called You” and “Leadership Tips for Today and Tomorrow,” Patricia Cook challenged us all to enter any new professional environment with confidence, curiosity, and cognizance of our capacity to excel. 

By Megan Glaeser

On March 2, 2018, I received my acceptance into the Hoeft Technology & Management Program. It struck me that I was officially a member of this prestigious program, and I soon realized that my educational experience would be transformed and my future career would be launched to places I had only previously imagined. On this March 2nd, I thought I had experienced the happiest day of my college career.