A Signature Event from Graduate Career Development
Gain High-Impact Tools for Career Growth
The Career Success Summit is designed for all Bentley graduate students to explore the essentials needed to position themselves for career success and impact their ROI. Join Graduate Career Development (GCD) as we offer you a variety of expert workshops and a Career Simulation Lab to meet your needs, no matter where you are on your career journey. You’ll create a community, build confidence, and gain essential skills.
This is a free event offered only to current Bentley graduate students every fall.
Why Attend
Customized Workshops
Engage with workshop options covering the topics of developing your networking approach, presentation skills, analytical insights, and enhancing your professional influence and interviewing acumen.
Career Simulation Lab
Dynamic, small-group conversations/deep dives with seasoned alumni SMEs, featuring mini case studies drawn directly from the alumni’s real-world experiences.
Post-Event Meet Up
Gather as a community after the Summit in a more informal atmosphere at Mighty Squirrel in Waltham to discuss what you have learned and how you will implement your new found knowledge.
Incentives
Attendees could win lunch with SMEs, exclusive informational alumni interview opportunities, funding for professional conferences, and other prizes!
Agenda
Prizes throughout the day for outstanding participants!
Morning - LaCava 3rd Floor
- 8:15 a.m. | Check-in until 4:00 p.m. | Executive Dining Room Lobby
- 8:45 a.m. | Welcome | Executive Dining Room & Virtual
- 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. | Keynote Workshop: "You Won’t Just 'Pick Up' Networking—Learn the Skill That Fast-Tracks Your Job Search" with Steve Dalton, author of The 2-Hour Job Search | Executive Dining Room & Virtual
Afternoon - LaCava 3rd Floor
- 12:00 to 1:00 p.m. | Lunch | Executive Dining Room
- 1:00 to 3:15 p.m. | Career Essentials Workshops | You choose (See details below)
- 1:00 to 2:00 p.m.
- Option A: "Impress Your Network: Master Four Essential Interview Questions" with John Hutchings | Danielson Room
- Option B: "Deliver with Impact: Engage Your Audience with Confidence" with Liz Paushter and Stephanie Medden | LaCava 325
- 2:15 to 3:15 p.m.
- Option A: "Develop Your Analytical Insights with Case Interview Approach" with Rick Wilmot | Danielson Room & Virtual
- Option B: "Leveraging Your Influence" with Dominique Wilburn | LaCava 325
- 1:00 to 2:00 p.m.
- 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. | Career Simulation Lab | Featuring alumni & professionals (See details below)
- 4:30 to 4:45 p.m. | Summit Close with Prizes* | Executive Dining Room & Virtual | *Conference funding winner must be present to accept award. Only current students registered on Handshake are eligible.
Late Afternoon - Off-Campus
- 5:00 p.m. | Meet Up | Mighty Squirrel, 411 Waverly Oaks Road, Waltham, MA
Keynote Workshop
"You Won’t Just 'Pick Up' Networking—Learn the Skill That Fast-Tracks Your Job Search" with Steve Dalton, author of The 2-Hour Job Search
9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. | Executive Dining Room & Virtual
You’ve heard it before: “Just network and you’ll land the job.” But if you’re like most people, networking doesn’t come naturally. It's not something you pick up over time—just like you don’t learn to play the piano or drive a car without deliberate instruction, you don’t master networking by simply aging into it.
In this 3-hour workshop, Steve Dalton, author of The 2-Hour Job Search, will teach you the proven, step-by-step process to master proactive networking. If you’re still relying on trial and error or hoping for spontaneous success, you’re wasting precious time. This is a skill you can—and should—learn to accelerate your job search and impact your overall career growth.
You’ll leave with a clear, repeatable plan that shows you how to identify the right targets, reach out effectively, and convert strangers into advocates who can land you interviews. No more guessing—just a precise method that you can use immediately. Don’t let this skill slip through your fingers; the faster you learn it, the faster you’ll be in your next role.
Steve Dalton is a leading expert in job search strategy and career development, best known as the author of The 2-Hour Job Search and The Job Closer, two Amazon #1 bestsellers published by Penguin Random House. His books have sold over 100,000 copies worldwide and are taught at more than 100 universities, where they are praised for transforming the job search from an intimidating guessing game into a structured, teachable process.
As founder and CEO of Contact2Colleague, Steve equips students and professionals with step-by-step systems for turning strangers into advocates and for building lasting professional relationships—essential skills for both landing jobs and advancing within them. His workshops are trusted by career centers for their clarity, practicality, and results-driven focus, and his frameworks help coaches scale one-on-one support while giving students a sense of agency and momentum.
Steve’s work has been featured in the Harvard Business Review, The Wall Street Journal, and Fast Company, and his methods have become core elements of the job search curriculum at institutions ranging from small liberal arts colleges to top business schools.
A former strategy consultant with A.T. Kearney and marketing manager with General Mills, Steve holds a chemical engineering degree from Case Western Reserve University and an MBA from Duke University.
Career Essentials Workshops
“Impress Your Network: Master Four Essential Interview Questions" with John Hutchings
1:00 to 2:00 p.m. | Danielson Room
In both networking and interviewing, four questions will shape your career conversations: “Tell me about yourself.” “Why this organization?” “Why this role?” “Why this industry?” This experiential workshop will teach you how to answer these questions with clarity, confidence, and authenticity. You will learn the motivation of the person asking the questions and learn a simple narrative framework to aligns your story with your goals—and resonates with recruiters, hiring managers, and networking contacts.
You’ll Learn How To: 1. Structure a clear, memorable response to questions such as “Tell me about yourself.” 2. Align your answers with the target organization’s mission, role, and industry. 3. Avoid common pitfalls and connect with your audience.
Ideal for all career stages - early professionals, seasoned professionals, and career changers - this workshop gives you tools to make a lasting impression in interviews, coffee chats, and career fairs.
John Hutchings is a Graduate Career Coach at Bentley University working with all graduate students from all career stages to support their career growth and job transitions. With 20+ years of experience, John has coached over 3,000 aspiring leaders—helping them enter management roles, land promotions, pivot into new industries, or successfully navigate major career changes. His mission is to empower early and seasoned professionals to pursue meaningful roles aligned with their interests, strengths, and long-term ambitions. John is a Certified Career Management Coach and Certified Personal Branding Strategist and frequent guest speaker on career management topics, with past appearances for the Boston Young Professionals Association, Bentley’s Graduate Career Success Summit, North Carolina Biotech Jobs Network, NC State University’s Office of Postdoctoral Affairs, the North Carolina Technology Association, and multiple Career Services & Employer Alliance (CSEA) conferences. Now based in New England after relocating from North Carolina, John incorporates connection, insight, and empathy to every coaching session. Outside of work, you’ll likely find him with his wife at his grandchildren’s sports events, road-tripping along remote New England roads, or baking his signature cinnamon rolls.
“Deliver with Impact: Engage Your Audience with Confidence” with Liz Paushter and Stephanie Medden
1:00 to 2:00 p.m. | LaCava 325
Whether you're pitching an idea, leading a meeting, or presenting in class, how you deliver your message matters. In this interactive workshop, you'll explore research-backed strategies for connecting with your audience, keeping their attention, and communicating with clarity and confidence. Expect hands-on activities, practical tips, and a few surprises—all designed to help you show up as your most authentic and effective self.
Liz Paushter is the Executive Director of the Badavas Center for Innovation in Teaching and Learning at Bentley University, where she leads campus-wide initiatives to advance teaching excellence, academic innovation, and faculty development. With over 20 years of experience in education, Liz brings a deep background in instructional design, strategic leadership, and community-building across higher education, secondary education, and organizations.
Her work focuses on fostering a culture of experimentation, equity, and engagement, helping faculty and institutions reimagine learning for a changing world. Liz enjoys being a thought partner on topics including faculty development, experiential learning, innovative pedagogy, emerging technologies, and the evolving role of academic innovation centers.
Stephanie Medden is an Assistant Professor in the Department of English and Media Studies at Bentley. For more than a decade she has taught both undergraduate and graduate courses in public speaking, multimodal communication, mass communication, and strategic communication, with a focus on helping students develop the skills and confidence to communicate effectively in professional settings. Prior to entering academia, she worked in corporate marketing communications, where she focused on brand messaging and strategic storytelling. Her work at Bentley equips students to connect, lead, and succeed through effective and ethical communication.
"Develop Your Analytical Insights with Case Interview Approach" with Rick Wilmot
2:15 to 3:15 p.m. | Danielson Room & Virtual
Case Overview
Develop your structured mindset! Showcase your analytical insights and business acumen! Learn the strategic breakdown of core components that define EVERY case interview. These skills benefit all grad students in all roles.
One Structure Overview - Profitability
Understand how to tailor one structure to different industries and business contexts for maximum impact. Master the profitability framework used by top consulting firms to dissect revenue and cost drivers.
Real Time Example
Apply this framework IN REAL TIME! Guided through a walkthrough of a classic profitability case, participants will gain insights into how to navigate data, ask sharp questions, and drive toward actionable solutions. (Other structures detailed at Management Consulted.) Then practice your newly developed skills in the Career Simulation Lab from 3:30-4:30 p.m.!
Rick Wilmot started his career as an engineer at a fast-growing future "tech unicorn", before accepting an MBA fellowship at the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business with the goal of breaking into MBB. While at Michigan, Rick interviewed with nearly a dozen major consulting firms before accepting both Summer and full-time Associate roles with McKinsey, also serving as a consulting interview coach for both undergrads and MBA1s.
During his four years at McKinsey, in addition to serving clients across a wide range of industries and topics, Rick co-led the firm's Michigan recruiting efforts. He was deeply involved in candidate identification, selection, and pre-interview coaching, and as a core member of the firm’s Midwest Office interviewing team, he conducted over 100 first-round interviews with undergraduates, MBAs and Advanced Professional Degree candidates from dozens of different schools, also participating in the post-interview decision-making process for hundreds more.
After McKinsey, Rick went on to become an IBM exec and lead a private tech venture incubator backed by one of his former consulting clients. Today, when not working with MC's clients in whatever area they need (case, behavioral, resume, networking advice, etc.), he focuses on investing in, working with and advising startup tech companies in the B2B GenAI space.
“Leveraging Your Influence” with Dominique Wilburn
2:15 to 3:15 p.m. | LaCava 325
This interactive workshop equips graduate students with the tools to navigate power dynamics and build influence to lead in today’s multigenerational workplaces. Participants will explore how to manage up, adapt to different communication styles, and strengthen strategic relationships that support visibility and upward mobility. The session also addresses barriers to advancement and offers practical techniques for processing feedback, setting boundaries, and leveraging influence to lead effectively from any role.
Dominique Wilburn serves as the Director of Programs and Communications within Bentley’s Center for Women and Business. Dominique leads all university initiatives on behalf of the CWB and manages institutional partnership relationships and strategic internal collaborations focused on advancing intersectional gender equity and driving the dialogue around leadership on campus. Before her role at Bentley, Dominique managed the DEI initiatives for a global non-profit study abroad organization. She received her Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Drew University and is completing her MBA at Bentley University.
Career Simulation Lab
Career Simulation Lab
3:30 to 4:30 p.m. | Executive Dining Room
What is Career Simulation Lab (and why are we excited about it!)?
- Dynamic, small-group conversations/deep dives with seasoned alumni SMEs
- Mini case studies drawn directly from the alumni’s real-world experiences
- You can choose to join any two sessions. No pre-sign up required.
- Meet at round tables for in-depth 30-minute group discussions at 3:30 p.m. and 4:00 p.m.
Who will you meet?
- Seasoned professionals ranging from serial entrepreneurs to CIOs of cutting-edge technology companies in Boston
- Companies included: Trident Trust, State Street, Wayfair, Staples, SAP, Akamai, Dassault Systemes, Boston Dynamics, State of MA, UKG, Wellington, and more!
- Roles included: CIO, VP of Analytics, Sr Research Strategist, Product Design Lead, Global Executive Recruiter, Director of Technical Program Management, ex-Strategic Business Consultant, Lead Talent Acquisition Partner, Managing Principal, Head of Private Equity Solutions, Serial Entrepreneur, and more!
What will you gain?
- Engaging, analytical, interactive discussions on leadership journeys and lessons learned
- Opportunities to step into a leader’s shoes and tackle real challenges
- Firsthand insights into how executives approach tough issues—their decisions, lessons learned, and outcomes
- Insights to inform your own career journey
- Improved analytical and problem-solving skills
- An expanded network of alums who know more about you and your business acumen
Summit Close with Prizes
Closing with Prizes
4:30 to 4:45 p.m. | LaCava Executive Dining Room
Introduction of Graduate Student Association (GSA) and award of conference funding. Conference funding winner must be present to accept award. Only current students registered on Handshake are eligible.
Uriel Ulloa, GSA President
Penélope Mienses Paulino, GSA Vice President
