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Anna Bedell (Mktg’25) and Spencer Taliaferro (Mgmt’24) have managed to do something that many students dream of—head into graduation with a job offer already in hand. 

Anna Bedell (Mktg’25) and Spencer Taliaferro (Mgmt’24) share a few things in common: They both came to Leeds with an interest in marketing, they’re both student workers at Leeds, and they both managed what many students dream of—getting full-time jobs even before they don their graduation caps.

Bedell will graduate this spring with a marketing major and journalism minor. After that, she’s headed to Europe for a month, and then on to Austin, Texas, where she’ll join IBM in marketing. Meanwhile, Taliaferro, who majored in business analytics and information management, will step into Boeing as a competitive intelligence specialist after he graduates this December.

Their secret? Internships.

Starting early to build experience

Students at Leeds hit the ground running, and Bedell and Taliaferro are no exception.

Bedell started working part-time as a Leeds ambassador freshman year. From her sophomore year on she has built a portfolio of published articles working with Leeds’ marketing team. On top of academics and student government, she’s also done “almost every Leeds’ abroad experience possible,” including a  First-Year Global Experience and a semester abroad, adding to her resume and worldview.

Bedell talked with mentors each year, and one alumni mentor connected her with Assistant Teaching Professor Meg Winter. “She had a lot of insightful things to say to give me advice on what could be best for me,” Bedell said.

Taliaferro has worked at Leeds in various capacities since the first time he stepped into Koelbel, where he now works with the Advancement team. He considers his student employment to be the biggest influence on his work experience.

“It has really helped evolve my professional development,” he said, listing essential skills: how to talk with colleagues, manage deadlines and collaborate with a team. “So that's been very monumental, not just to me getting the job, but to the success of my internship last summer,” he said.

He also credits his success to three interview prep sessions with the Career Development Office, two of which involved behavioral interviews. “I sometimes ramble, and the biggest practice I learned was how to be concise with my answers. Career services was great at teaching me the STAR [situation, task, action, result] method." (See "Ace Interviews with the STAR Method.")

A foot in the door

Bedell’s proactive approach led her to IBM’s , a virtual career readiness program. After that, securing an internship with IBM the following summer was a natural next step.

“They already knew me as a person. They already knew the effort I'd put in for the project that we had. I was one of the presenters for our final project as well, so it put me on the radar at IBM.” Her internship led to her job offer without even having to interview.

“They already knew me as a person. They already knew the effort I'd put in ... so it put me on the radar at IBM.”

Anna Bedell (Mktg’25)

Taliaferro was seeking an internship in a STEM-based organization where he could enhance his knowledge of data analytics. Working in a well-established industry like aviation, known for its great opportunities for advancement, appealed to him.

So, he attended career fairs to hone his networking skills and connected with a retired aerospace industry professional through Leeds’ Professional Mentorship Program. Those efforts helped him gain the confidence to connect with a recruiter on LinkedIn to express his interest in an internship at Boeing. Within four days, the recruiter responded, leading to the internship Taliaferro started last summer. He was excited to tackle three major projects that allowed him to gain real-world data analytics skills, and he has been interning since while completing his last semester.

For Taliaferro, the support from managers and colleagues won him over immediately. “I was very lucky to have the flexibility to be able to learn and to train myself, and I had a lot of opportunities to fail in a safe environment,” he said.

“I was very lucky to have the flexibility to be able to learn and to train myself, and I had a lot of opportunities to fail in a safe environment.”

Spencer Taliaferro (Mgmt’24)

Planning for work-life balance

As large employers call employees back to the office five days a week, both Bedell and Taliaferro are grateful they have hybrid options.

They both had a clear sense of their goals, including being able to consider further education through their employers if they choose to pursue graduate degrees.

By interning, they could get a sense of how their new work environments align with their values and goals.

“IBM is an old company, but it’s such a fun, youthful culture in its working environment,” said Bedell. She now is also familiar with what life will be like in her new home of Austin. That helped her weigh out the job offer in hand, adding, “There’s still so much room for mistakes and growth, and to know that I'm not pushed toward anything specific right now.”

Taliaferro is looking forward to settling in Denver and diving into his career, especially after moving every year of college. Grad school may be five years down the road, he said, and he may even go for his pilot’s license.

Keeping longer-term goals flexible

One of Bedell’s greatest discoveries during her college years is that the whole world is her classroom. It has led to a sense of optimism she hopes to share. “I want to tell other students not to put an exuberant amount of pressure on themselves … even if something doesn't go to plan, that just means there’s a new opportunity waiting for you elsewhere.”

As Taliaferro prepares to graduate in December, he’s realistic about the ups and downs of any industry but is also optimistic. Having witnessed his father go through two layoffs has steeled his reserve for facing unpredictable events. In fact, his manager at Boeing had informed him in October about the , although Taliaferro’s department, to date, has been unaffected.

Taliaferro remains confident about his future. “I'd love to be with Boeing for at least the next five years, because I love my team. I love my coworkers and I would love to be an expert in my field.”