By Carole Gaudet
Carole Gaudet handles marketing and communications for the Center for Business & Society, and is a little surprised to realize that she has lived in the Upper Valley for 22 years. Lauren Clark TP’16 is program manager for the Center for Business & Society. Prior to Tuck, she worked at lifeIMAGE, an IT Startup in Boston, and Benchmark Senior Living, headquartered in Wellesley, MA. She is pictured with her fiancé, Kevin Friedenberg T’16, in full regalia for the Tuck Winter Carnival.
One of my favorite aspects of working here at the Tuck Center for Business & Society is our team. For the second time, I’m working with a program manager who also happens to be a Tuck partner—Lauren Clark TP’16. I sat down recently with Lauren to ask her about the process of looking for, and landing, a job that would be professionally and personally satisfying to her, for her two years in Hanover.
When her partner Kevin decided on Tuck, Lauren’s first thought was that she didn’t want to slow down her career. She’d been in HR prior to Tuck, and she wanted to use the two-year stint as an opportunity to try something new, gain skills in a new area, or test her old skills in a different setting.
During the admissions process, Kevin paid attention to the culture at Tuck, not just among the students, but the employees as well. He asked a lot about partner opportunities and inclusiveness, so Lauren gained a good understanding of Tuck’s culture, and wanted to be a part of it.
“In my experience,” she says, “Tuck understands the partner situation. Other employers fail to realize that our generation typically only stays in a job for two years. You aren’t really taking a risk hiring us for that time, because in all reality that would be the situation anyway. Other partners have had a harder time finding something outside of Tuck because those employers don’t understand that dynamic as well.”
Lauren’s first step was to reach out to current Tuck partners. She found their names in the online Tuck Partner Manual. “They give them out at Admitted Students Weekend (ASW), but I’m a little bit of a computer nerd, and I was able to find the one from the previous year and make use of the information sooner,” she says. She started cold calling partners to ask if they knew anyone who worked at Tuck, how they liked it, and whether they had any suggestions.
“Every single one was super helpful, got back to me, and gave me another person to contact,” Lauren says.
That led her to a phone conversation and then an in-person meeting with Beau Benson, Dartmouth College’s recruitment consultant. Lauren sent in her resume, explained her situation, and talked through her skills. Beau invited her to come up to Hanover and meet her before ASW.
“That way, she had my resume, knew my skills, and had an idea of what my personality was. When jobs came across her radar, she would send them to me when she thought they might be a good fit. That was really helpful.”
Because Lauren started the process early, she was able to get a head start by applying for a few jobs before ASW. “I spent Friday of ASW interviewing. That was valuable because I didn’t have to take another day off of work, in addition to ASW, to travel here.”
Lauren skyped with some potential employers who weren’t at Tuck that day. “They’re flexible about how they interview partners. They understand that you can’t take all this time off from work. Not everyone lives in Boston, a short drive away.”
Lauren was happy with the range of positions and opportunities that were available. “I applied for several jobs, some at Dartmouth, some at Tuck. Then Beau reached out to me directly regarding the Center for Business & Society role, and said she thought it would be a good fit for me, based on my personal interests. When I read about the position, it became my top choice. And having the opportunity to interview so early on in the process was really nice.”
Lauren started with the Center for Business & Society on June 2, 2014. Her flexibility in being able to start before Kevin joined her was a key benefit to the Center.
I asked Lauren what it meant to her to work at the place where her partner was attending school.
“At first, I wondered if we’d see each other too much. But the students truly are so busy the first couple of months, I didn’t see him as often as I thought I would. Now that things have slowed down a bit, it’s nice to have lunch together every once in a while.”
As Lauren’s office mate, I was delighted one Monday when I came to work to learn that she and Kevin had gotten engaged over the weekend.
“We didn’t come engaged, which made me a little bit nervous. I didn’t know if I would still be accepted, as a partner who wasn’t fully fledged. But you’re treated the same at Tuck, regardless. The word 'partner' is used for every significant other, not just the married or engaged. That levels the playing field, and no one really notices except for you.”
For myself, I have to say that working with Lauren and her predecessor has been a great source of professional and personal satisfaction during my own time here at Tuck. I’ve learned so much from these two women, a couple of decades my junior, from technical skills to social media tricks to a glimpse into how millennials approach life. I hope, in return, I’ve been able to introduce them to life at Tuck and in the Upper Valley in a way that enriches their time as well. Tuck partners, we love you! We’re always delighted to have you join the Tuck team.
The Center for Business & Society at Tuck aims to prepare Tuck students for leadership in this increasingly complex, interconnected world. A connected world, shifting ideologies, and the changing role of governments have made business a significant agent of transformation. Business knowledge can be applied to community needs and world issues. It can work across sectors to develop solutions. The opportunities are endless. We work to ensure that the changing issues at the intersection of business interests and society’s needs are a key component of our MBA education and a part of Tuck's broader scholarly activities.