At Rutgers Business School, student found almost "infinite" opportunities to help prepare for a career in supply chain management

Senior Dana Skerer landed a co-op that allowed her to apply classroom lessons to real-world business situations. It also led to a full-time job offer.

PISCATAWAY, N.J., April 19, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- With a black belt in Taekwondo, Rutgers Business School-New Brunswick senior Dana Skerker learned early how to push herself to recognize and seize opportunities.

"In a big school like Rutgers, there are a lot of opportunities, it seems almost like infinite opportunities," Skerker said. "One thing I learned early on is to take that first step out of your comfort zone. It can make a big school feel small. Try something new, whether it's breaking a board in Taekwondo or trying a new club at Rutgers Business School."

A supply chain management major with a concentration in global business, Skerker was drawn to Rutgers Business School because of its national reputation in her major. After growing up in Berkeley Heights and graduating from Governor Livingston High School, she wanted to go to college in the Northeast. Rutgers was the perfect choice. "It looked like it could lead to great opportunities," she said.

Learn more about admissions to the undergraduate program at Rutgers Business School.

One of the first offerings she took advantage of was the Rutgers Business School Innovation Committee, joining in the first semester of her freshman year. Not knowing much about the business world, Skerker said the club taught her career development skills through its workshops. When she was asked to be the group's president, Skerker accepted, revamping the club, and recruiting new members during the pandemic. "I think a lot of students felt very isolated," she said, "and I wanted to provide the opportunity for them to connect with others."

Take a look at the annual Poets & Quants Best Business Majors feature. Skerker was among 100 graduating business school students included from across the country.

Skerker also served as a peer mentor at RBS and volunteered for the school's Starting Your Career on the Right Foot program.

After interning with the Office of Career Management, Skerker landed a summer internship at Amil Freight in Princeton, an opening she found on BusinessKnight, Rutgers Business School's jobs portal. As a business development intern, she learned about the supply chain industry from the trucking perspective. "Trucking is not very glamorous," she said, "but it is actually so essential and interesting."

Skerker first connected with Bayer at a Rutgers career fair, then got a six-month product supply co-op during her junior year that was extended through the summer. "The co-op was a great way to apply what I learned in the classroom," she said. "Topics we learn in school make sense, but it takes seeing them implemented in the real world to understand the full scope of the supply chain."

After she graduates in May, Skerker will be working at Bayer as a product supply associate in a two-year rotational program in three different areas: factory, a distribution center and corporate. "I will get a glimpse of supply chain from end to end," she said. "The rotational program is a good way to dip my toe in different parts of supply chain before I decide to focus on one thing."

Skerker hopes to work outside the U.S. at some point to gain perspective on different cultures and how business works across international borders. "It would be a great opportunity, career wise and personally," she said.

Until then, her Taekwondo can help Skerker in both realms. She started in martial arts at age seven and likes the sport's physical and mental components. "It taught me a lot about discipline and hard work," she said. "In terms of character, it played a big role in how I grew up."

"Knowing how to work hard and keep calm and breathe through issues are things I would take into college, and my career," she said.

Terri Kurtzberg, a professor of management and global business, saw those qualities when Skerker was in her negotiations course. "Dana is one of those students everyone else wants to work with," Kurtzberg said. "Voted 'most prepared negotiator' by her peers in class, she is calm, capable, and kind. I know she will go far."

SOURCE Rutgers Business School-Newark and New Brunswick