Speaker: Beth Walkenbach, Director, Corporate Partnerships, KGI
What is essential about the work you do?
Beth Walkenbach: The work I do provides students the opportunity to test their skills in the real world before they actually have to enter the real world. So when working with corporate entities, we are creating opportunities for the companies to benefit from the students work and the students to benefit from the company's guidance. And in so doing our students graduate with at least two industry experiences for those industry-oriented majors that we have degree programs here at KGI. It's incredibly gratifying and ultimately prepares students to do the work that they feel called to do.
What’s one of the most interesting changes you’ve observed in the industry recently?
Beth Walkenbach: One of the interesting things I've noticed in the industry and this is coming from a talent acquisition perspective, which of course is, one of the things that we work with on corporate sponsors for our TMPs is the investment in early talent that companies are making and the turnover of early talent. And it seems to be that there is a generational gap in understanding what kind of opportunities can be at a company and how one can leverage those opportunities to encourage one's own growth. And what we seem to be seeing and hearing from our corporate partners is that early talent, young entry level folks are moving on quickly when they feel that the company has provided all the opportunities they can, they're not sticking around to leverage those opportunities. And so now it's the challenge on the companies to train up their early talent to say we're going to give you these opportunities, but you really need to dive in and and use them. And that's something that's been really interesting.
What do you expect the industry to look like in the next 5 years?
Beth Walkenbach: Based on what I see the industry, we're going to see a lot more automation. So we're going to see a lot fewer manual processes and a lot more automation, excuse me. And that will require an additional skill set of our students. So I think we're going to be moving more towards AI ChatGBT and some of those other tools that facilitate automation.
What advice would you give to someone getting started in our industry?
Beth Walkenbach: Well, this is an interesting question because our industry technically is higher ed. But I think we're answering this from biotechnology or life sciences industry. And as far as someone getting started in any industry really is be open, take the opportunities that come by look for new opportunities, create opportunities, so be open to creating and exploring and leveraging all the opportunities that come by your way to strengthen the areas that you might not have existing strength in and to leverage and explore further, explore those areas that you really do have strength in.
