The Martha and Spencer Love School of Business students spent three days in Silicon Valley visiting companies, meeting with professionals and learning about different work environments.
Twenty-seven Elon University junior and senior Business Fellows traveled to San Francisco Sept. 26-28 to network with employers and gain insight to various organizational cultures.
The company visits exposed the fellows to a wide array of business cultures that differed from what many of them had previously experienced. “The businesses on the West Coast had a more laid-back culture, involving more flexible hours, a casual dress code and an open layout of the office space,” said accounting major Kristen Lober ’18. “This showed us that it is important to pay attention to office location when applying for jobs.”
Several fellows were intrigued by the nontraditional office spaces at the start-up companies. “The Airbnb headquarters is by far the coolest office building I have ever seen, and was my favorite part of the trip,” said economics major Jack Cove ’17. “Without a single conventional office space, it was open and free flowing, and very unique.”
Cove added that he learned the importance of thinking outside the box from the visits. “These young companies clearly try new business strategies and methods, and not all of them work,” Cove said. “However, this willingness to fail certainly contributes to the rapid success of these organizations.”
This was the first time the Business Fellows program organized company visits in San Francisco. Fellows traditionally travel to New York in the fall to meet with executives and visit the New York Stock Exchange.
“We wanted to take students to the heart of Silicon Valley to expose them to a different work culture, start-ups and tech giants, and a city that is full of opportunity for bright, young people willing to work hard,” said Tina Das, director of the Business Fellows program.
The fellows were accompanied by:
- Tina Das, Lincoln Financial Professor of Economics
- Wonhi Synn, professor of finance and chair of the Department of Finance
- Brooke Buffington, associate director of career services for the Love School of Business
- Lauren Duffy, associate director of corporate and employer relations for the Love School of Business
- Tom Brinkley, executive director of the Student Professional Development Center.
About the Elon Business Fellows Program
The Elon Business Fellows program blends classroom learning and real-world experience to prepare emerging business professionals to take on the leadership challenges in their professions, their organizations and their communities. The program adds an extra dimension to fellows’ studies through dedicated team projects, specialized cohort classes, a Winter Term study abroad experience, company site visits in New York or San Francisco, a four-year professional development plan, and senior seminars that involve managing a $250,000 portfolio or consulting for a company.