MSIE Career Placement

Mindi Levinson, Director of Career Placement/IEOR

As the Career Placement Officer of the MSIE Program, my goal is to help each student maximize their potential by translating their skills and expertise to a role that actualizes their hopes for the future. I do this by working hand-in-hand with the career team, who have connections to industries that include finance, consulting, technology, marketing and media, energy, healthcare, fashion, manufacturing, construction—and the list goes on!

Are you interested in healthcare but not sure you want to work in a hospital? Take the Healthcare Operations course to see if it’s a good fit. Do you like the fashion industry? Do an internship with Louis Vuitton, Cartier, or other companies who have employed our students in the past. The world is your oyster, and our team is here to help prepare you with the tools to pry it open!

Your career journey with IEOR starts before you even arrive. Below is a roadmap to this journey, with various different signposts and markers to guide you.

Career Preparation:

We take your career development very seriously. Before you begin our program you will receive an extensive list of resources along with some exercises to complete in order to get a jump start on your career preparation and job search to effectively prepare for our career curriculum.  

Each MSIE student is served by a full-time dedicated career placement officer housed in the IEOR department. The career placement officer will partner with you from the time you enter the program through to completion and beyond.

The Process:
“Even at the Graduate level, many students enter the program not knowing exactly what they want to do for a living.” 

If you are entering our graduate program without a definite career goal in mind, you are not alone. We are here to help you consider all of your options, choose the career path that is best for you, and pursue that path energetically and successfully. The life and work skills you learn here will provide you with a firm foundation throughout every stage of your career.

Find some specifics of the ways we help you, both in a classroom setting and one-on-one. 

International Students:
The IEOR Career department is sensitive to the unique challenges and opportunities our international students face in the US, and have taken this into careful consideration when designing our professional development courses. We encourage our international students to get out of their comfort zones by helping them understand and navigate the cultural and business environments they will encounter here. Students learn how to craft introductory emails, engage in role-playing to prepare for one-on-one informational interviews and develop their networking skills, and learn how to keep connected after initial interviews and event attendance, with techniques proven to work in the US marketplace. We work closely with both employers and Columbia’s ISSO to make sure you have the information you need. 

CAREER SUMMER ASSIGNMENT

Before the program starts, you will research roles, companies, and industries, and update your resume to reflect your career interests. You will also prepare an “elevator pitch.”

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT COURSE

Starting at orientation and extending through Fall, we offer a Professional Development Course (ENGI E4000), which includes lectures and workshops to develop your resume, cover letter, LinkedIn profile, networking and interviewing skills, and more. Students wishing to take advantage of the IEOR’ Department’s career services must take this course.

ADVISING

You can make an appointment or drop by during office hours to discuss your career interests and job search process.

EMPLOYER RECRUITMENT

Half of our job is working directly with employers. We have an employer database of industry contacts, many of whom are alumni, to help you with your internship or job placement. During any given week, you have access to the following:

• Job postings directly from employers
• On-campus recruitment that includes employer info sessions and interviews, and alumni networking events
• Off-campus recruitment that includes on-site employer visits and alumni socials.

We also create resume books for our employer contacts to access.

PICK A CONCENTRATION

Students can select one of three IE concentrations: Healthcare Management, Regulated Industries and Systems Engineering. If you are not sure what you want to do upon entering, consider taking one unique course from each concentration until you find your match. It is not required that you have a concentration.

INTERNSHIPS

While completing an internship in not required, the majority of our students complete at least one, usually in the summer after their second semester. Check out our placement page for more information on where students go.