Professional Leadership Program

"I have just returned from a 5-month assignment to Venlo, Netherlands (about 2 hours East from Amsterdam, on the German border), and I'd like to share my thoughts about PLP.

In late March of 2004, I happened upon an interview with UPS. I became a PLP member in '03, and one of the many professional strategies I learned was that strong interviewing skills came with practice, so I went for it, even though I had little interest to work for UPS. About 20 minutes in to the interview, the interviewer expressed that he didn't feel that the open position was quite inline with my education and work experience, but he had a different position available.

After he had described the position in detail, I was hooked. I knew this was the job for me - in line with all of my career goals, short and long term. It was just a matter of getting my foot in the door. After the interview, I went directly to the PLP office, and shared my excitement - and asked for help, I knew I could count on PLP! Well, I followed all the advice (thank you cards, reference letters, etc), and got a chance for a second interview. I learned from some of the networking events that it's always good to do your homework - and I did just that. I went to the second interview with a list of questions, ranging from employment to customer solutions.

I was fairly confident that I interviewed well, but I learned that I was competing against 4 other students for one position. I started sweating, and waiting, for over a month. I sent follow-up cards, more reference letters, just didn't give up. Whenever I needed a little boost, I just went to the PLP office - I never left that office without a newfound confidence, always there to support students. Well, long story short. The Monday after graduation, I got a phone call early in the morning asking for a third interview. I was ecstatic. I went for the third interview, and was pleasantly surprised when I learned that it was a trick - I had the position, and it was a meeting for negotiations.

Yet again, I was prepared, thanks to PLP. I had been researching average salaries, benefits, my potential career path, and everything else I could about UPS SCS. I was hired as a Management Trainee in the Operations Improvement group for UPS-Supply Chain Solutions only three days after graduation (May '04), and my professional adventures began. From that point on, I was truly a graduate - and as always, proud to be a PLPer.

After a few months, I asked my boss what put me ahead of the others, and he said PLP. He explained that all of my education and work experience was great, but as a member of PLP, he felt that I could offer more as an employee, I already had the 'backpack to briefcase' tour, I had networking skills - which I have to use almost everyday at work, and a strong drive for success that was supported by the time I spent as a member of this program.

I have been on various assignments, to solve problems, provide additional training, work on efficiency and process controls for warehouse functions, and I never imagined that I would get a call to go to Europe. I was asked to go for 10 days to a town near Amsterdam to help a failing, and very high profile account, and I was given 4 hours notice to be at the airport. I went for it, I'm not one to turn down opportunities, and my international assignment goal was about to be fulfilled.

The assignment was hard, many difficult situations that I never had experience dealing with. I was meeting with top management (COO and Country Manager Level) with UPS, as well as many managers from the customer, on a daily basis; dealing with language barriers, cultural differences, dissatisfied employees, and a myriad of other problems. I was asked to stay after about 5 days, for another 5 months. It was a hard decision - I was working 100-hour weeks, very stressed, and far away from home, but I did it. This opportunity wouldn't come around for a long time, if it ever did again.

Many times while I was in Venlo, I wondered 'why me?' why was I the one chosen to go on this assignment instead of someone with more experience, and it dawned on me - PLP! PLP prepared me to drive ahead, don't think about failure. If you try something and it doesn't work, then you at least have the experience with you - and that's invaluable (kind of like going on as many interviews as possible). Well, fortunately, from hard work and determination, the assignment was a success.

When I first heard of PLP, I wanted to join - and I'm proud to be a PLPer. I'm sure that others have found PLP to be just as valuable as I have, and hope that for years to come, students continue to gain from the PLP network, experiences, and find lifetime friends as I have. It's a wonderful program that truly takes its members from backpack to briefcase."

- Christy Jackalone Solyom, '03

"PLP is that one organization that truly defines your ability to take the leap from college into the corporate environment. From icing on the cake to the polish in my professional life, PLP prepared me for my corporate experience. As a rough stone entering the PLP program, my future employer finds me to be a polished gem thanks to PLP."
— Matt Gallia, PLP Alumnus, '03

"I always try to surround myself with successful people and PLP provided a great opportunity for that. I learned valuable interviewing skills, etiquette and just overall mannerisms that were connected with being business savvy. I feel I can effectively enter the business world now. Thanks PLP!"
— Endurance Wali, PLP Alumnus, '06

"I am fortunate to have had such a comprehensive short and long term look at what it takes to go from college student to professional. I feel fortunate to have been part of the program."
— Thomas Kishner, PLP Alumnus, '07

"Our PLP students enter the workplace uniquely equipped with experience and knowledge unavailable to most other students. Their mentoring by committed senior executives is invaluable in their formative years in business,and my only regret is that we can't offer a mentor to every graduating senior."
— Frank Bracken
COO/President, Haggar Clothing Foundation, Retired

"Mentoring a PLP student is extremely rewarding. To invest in a student's success through sharing your insights and experiences is an honor. I enjoyed being able to provide concrete suggestions my mentee could use right away (e.g. how to update her resume, tips for successful interviewing), as well as providing ideas and encouragement around longer-term career planning. I also enjoyed providing exposure to my work place and individuals at my firm whom she could learn from through one-on-one meetings and discussion forums. As an added bonus, the experience provides a great opportunity to tap into what's most important to employees of the college-age demographic. As with most things in life, the success of a mentoring relationship is a result of both parties approaching the experience with passion, commitment, honesty, and remembering to have fun along the journey."
— Sharon Senna
Fidelity Investments

"Being a mentor, for me, is a life long relationship that begins with the students' Senior year in College and continues through their professional career. It's a commitment to take interest in their life, not just helping them prepare for a career. Having them over to meet your family and including them in social events outside of the work place. Establishing a trust that they can come to you with the challenges they face as young adults. Although I require a great deal in exchange, I want them to know they are important to me first as a person, and then we can deal with getting ready for the workplace."
— Hunter Blanks
Executive Vice President, Colliers International

"I have been a faculty advisor for PLP since 1994. In that time, I have seen the program expand and flourish, both in number of students and number of programs. As a matter of course, I often speak with our students who have completed the program and uniformly they all agree that PLP has been a positive experience. Though it is difficult to quantify the benefits our students receive from their participation in PLP, perhaps the most striking measure is the dramatic improvement most of our students undergo in terms of poise and self-confidence from their initial interview to their completion of the program. I have always been proud of CoBs sponsorship of PLP, and I think it is far and away the best value-added program that UNT offers to its students."
— Stephen L. Poe
Professor
Department of Finance, Real Estate, Insurance & Law

"Our PLP students enter the workplace uniquely equipped with experience and knowledge unavailable to most other students. Their mentoring by committed senior executives is invaluable in their formative years in business,and my only regret is that we can't offer a mentor to every graduating senior."
— Frank Bracken
COO/President, Haggar Clothing Foundation, Retired

"UNT has a great location in which we can connect our students to a dynamic region and its leaders, and PLP puts our students in contact with a wide variety of successful business and civic leaders. There's always a buzz of excitement when these highly motivated PLP students are in the room with a group of successful mentors! Few universities can draw on the assets of an economic region as dynamic as DFW and PLP makes the connection for our students in an outstanding way."
— Lee Jackson
Chancellor, University of North Texas System

"As Vice President for Student Development, it is my hope that all of our students will develop leadership skills that will distinguish themselves in their career fields and personal lives. Therefore, I have carefully observed the Professional Leadership Program and can say that the students in PLP are part of a unique, incomparable program. Their experiences are exceptional and their exposure to extraordinary persons and events is outstanding."
— Bonita Jacobs, Ph.D.
Vice President for Student Development and
Associate Professor of Higher Education
University of North Texas

"The Professional Leadership Program is one of the best opportunities offered at UNT. PLP students are motivated, educated, and confident. The employers who hire them as co-op and intern students consistently rate them highly and ask for more of them. We are pleased to be a partner of this exceptional program."
— Dianne Markley
Director, Center for Cooperative Education
University of North Texas