Kecia Hansard has been working at the Smith School of Business for six years. She started at the school as assistant director of MBA and MS programs. In addition to performing general admission functions such as recruitment, interviews and selections, she was also in charge of diversity recruitment. This meant she was working with all minority groups in the area to spread the word about Smith. During her time in this position Hansard was able to coordinate two large events, specifically geared towards minority recruitment: The MBA Symposium and Kaleidoscope.

Just over a year ago Hansard started a new position at Smith as a career coach and consultant in the office of career management. In her role, Hansard performs a large variety of tasks. As a coach she helps to put together all the career programming and workshops for first- and second-year MBA students. She also puts together workshops and handouts for part-time students and alumni. As a coach she also works with students one-on-one to help them figure out where they want to work and how they can get there. Hansard looks at this part of her job as very collaborative. She tries to match up first-year students with second-years when there is a specific company or function they are interested in.

Before coming to Smith Hansard worked at George Washington University in the school of engineering. Her job was in recruitment and retention for all of their graduate programs. One of the things Hansard likes about her position at Smith is the creativity that it allows. Job searching is not cookie cutter and there is flexibility in the way anyone person finds a job. She also enjoys that there is always room to bring in new employers and programs. One thing Hansard is working on improving is the number of resources that people use at Smith. She says often times people only consider the faculty and students as resources and tend to overlook staff, alumni and students from other programs such as the EMBA program. Her hope is that students will use a more holistic approach when doing research as opposed to just using the Internet or publications.

When Hansard takes a break from helping students she enjoys gardening in her herb and vegetable garden, or taking a dance class. Her two favorite classes are modern and Afro Brazilian. Hansard's favorite place to travel is Salvador de Bahia in Brazil. She enjoys it there because it makes her appreciate culture, differences and all the little things in life. There is also a lot of history there. It is where the slave trade started in Brazil. Hansard said the people are also very welcoming and very patient with her bad Portuguese!

In the D.C. area, Hansard enjoys Rock Creek Park, saying, it will make you forget you are in a city! It's a great place for whole families to go, to take your dog or just enjoy a hike. Hansard also recommends a visit to the top of the Hotel Washington to look out over the city. It will make you appreciate where you are and the view is beautiful, she says. Her final recommendation is to eat at Ben’s Chili Bowl on U St. Not only is the food good, the history of the place is very unique, she says.

Hansard's advice for students: “School is a whole package and you will get out of it what you put in. So if you see a program that isn’t getting done or a speaker isn’t coming, help the community bring in that speaker or program.” She also wants students to make sure they take the time to really enjoy school. It’s only two years and they will go by quickly. Her final piece of advice is, “Put in 15 minutes a day on your career search. Whether it be Internet research, reading an article or doing a quick informational interview. You deserve to give yourself that time to work towards your future.”

Story by Lettie Goodridge, MBA Candidate 2008, Smith Media Group