Tara Flockhart’s career aspirations are unique considering the skill sets she wants to use.

“I wanted to combine my journalism, graphic design and marketing skills,” Flockhart said. “I was seeking a position that would allow me to combine all three skill sets, which isn’t necessarily an easy task. I applied and interviewed for several positions before ultimately finding one that was the perfect fit.”

Flockhart is a graduate student in the Business Administration program who plans on graduating in May. Flockhart completed a summer internship at Kemin Industries in Des Moines.

“It was a great experience that helped me to secure the job I currently have,” Flockhart said. “I accepted a regional marketing associate position with Daktronics in February, and I am very happy with the role. Mark Peterson and the MBA Career Services Department are very effective in helping students to prepare for and find jobs following graduation.”

Trevor Haynes, graduate in Business Administration, has a job lined up because of the Master of Business Administration program.

“I have a job lined up with ConAgra Foods in Marshall, Mo.,” Haynes said. “I feel very confident now in looking for jobs and interviewing.”

Iowa State was ranked in the top five for job placement for graduates in the Master of Business Administration program, according to a U.S. News and World Report survey.

According to the survey, 96.3 percent of the 2010 graduates were employed within three months of graduation. This makes the Iowa State MBA program the third highest out of 141 business programs that took part in the survey.

“We agree by being members of a national organization to record and report our employment statistics in a particular way,” said Mark Peterson, Director of Graduate Career Services. “That data is based on all the full-time MBA students that graduated in the 12 months ending in June 30, 2010. That would have been May of 2010, December of 2009, and August of 2009.”

An MBA class size is typically pretty small.

“We typically admit between 35 and 40 full time MBA students each year,” Peterson said, “depending on if students are graduating in two years or we have some students that will take some extra classes to graduate early. We don’t always graduate the same number we bring in the fall; we typically graduate between 30 and 38 students.”

Full-time students in MBA start the process of job searching their first week in the program.

“We have them update their resumes and begin interviewing skill training during orientation,” Peterson said.

Every full-time MBA student has to take a required course on developing their professional skills.

“All MBA students are required to take a class that focuses on resume, cover letter and interview skills, among many other important keys to success,” Flockhart said.

The three months after graduation is a period of time the industry agreed was a reasonable time frame to make a comparison.

“Those of us in the MBA career services industry think that an MBA who is truly seeking a job ought to be employed within three months,” Peterson said.

Despite the recession, the MBA program has been able to keep their employment of students high during the years.

“Our data has been consistent over the years; in some areas over the country, the recession of the past few years has hit harder. There have been some other MBA programs that haven’t been as successful at keeping the companies coming during the recession,” Peterson said. “Our efforts in that regard have allowed us to move up while other schools are seeing fewer students employed. Some of the very top schools on the overall ranking have barely 75 percent of their students employed in three months.

Flockhart and Haynes both have brighter futures thanks to the assistance of the MBA program.

“I am very happy to see that the MBA program is doing so well and moving up in the rankings,” Flockhart said. “I am thankful that I had the opportunity to experience it, and I am confident it will help me in all my future pursuits.”