University of Wisconsin Oshkosh students working at a certain global corporation have another reason to shout, “Yahoo!”
On Aug. 16, Yahoo! relocated its Oshkosh IT Global Service Desk Team from the Oshkosh City Center to its new digs at 551 High Ave, bringing the office even closer to UW Oshkosh campus and makes it next-door neighbors with the University’s professional partner, the UW Oshkosh Business Success Center (BSC).
But that’s not the only exciting news for Oshkosh students.
The BSC also recently renewed its contract with Yahoo!, ensuring that Oshkosh students will continue to work for the mega-company.
“We’re renewing the contract because it’s working for Yahoo!, and it’s certainly working for the students, as well,” said Adam Kostrzak, director of IT support and a UW Oshkosh alumnus.
It has been a successful partnership so far, as the initial group of 15 Oshkosh students Yahoo! hired in 2008 has swelled to about 30 students, nearly all of them current and former Oshkosh students, who provide internal support for Yahoo!’s 14,000 employees worldwide.
“They take phone calls, they chat with Yahoo! employees, they also answer e-mails from employees asking for support,” Kostrzak said. “Basically, anyone with a Yahoo! computer is contacting us if they need help.”
A talented staff provides this internal support, supervised by Sara Bernard, who formerly performed IT support for Fortune 500 companies, and Barb Koss, a 2009 UWO graduate.
Bernard enjoys the Yahoo! company culture.
“Doing IT and working for a company like Yahoo! is great,” Bernard said. “And the BSC is a good source for providing quality students.”
Every student the IT Global Service Desk Team has hired already has to impress BSC staff in his or her preliminary interview at the BSC before he or she can even interview with Yahoo!, so Bernard and Koss know they will be high caliber.
“We rely solely on the BSC for recruiting students,” Kostrzak said. “That’s what makes this partnership unique. It’s a situation that is unparalleled with other universities.
The BSC interviewed 200 students before the IT Global Service Desk Team opened in 2008, and Koss was one of the original 15 who did well in the BSC screening process as well as the interview with Yahoo!
‘It’s real’
Koss, who graduated UWO with a degree in organizational administration, thinks it’s cool to work for a well-known company like Yahoo!, but she also enjoys proving the skeptics wrong — skeptics who can’t believe Yahoo! has roots in Oshkosh.
“Some people ask, ‘Is this legit? Is this for real?’ And I say, ‘Yes, it’s real. We’re here,’” Koss said.
Not only is Yahoo! for real; the students’ enthusiasm is, too.
“I love the company,” Koss said. “There’s a lot of energy here. Everyone has various backgrounds, and they bring a lot to the table — some are good at customer service, and some are good at technical support.”
2010 UWO graduate Amanda Stobb, who was an HR intern at the BSC before she graduated in May, uses both of those skills in her new full-time job at Yahoo!
“My job is HR, but it’s very IT, also,” Stobb said. “I make sure all of the new hires are set up with all their equipment and ready to go. I also do some technical troubleshooting. I’m kind of like the middleman.”
Stobb said her superiors at the BSC, including Chad Kopitzke, Doug Jarmusz and Meridith Jaeger, gave her a lot of freedom to create her own experience during her time there and said Yahoo! operates much the same way.
“Working at the BSC opened up my eyes,” Stobb said. “I learned there if you have a good idea and you think it’s something worth doing, you need to push for it, and they will probably let you do it.”
Not only can Oshkosh students take ownership of their experience at Yahoo!, they also might find a new passion.
“You don’t have to be certified in everything to get a job with us,” Koss said. “Even students who aren’t really sure what they want to do when they graduate, maybe they’ll decide to pursue a career further with us.”
But in the meantime, BSC staff members can pop in and see how their new next-door neighbors are doing. They will often bring friendly, multi-talented students along with them to find a new job with a mega-company that is deepening its roots in Oshkosh.
The Business Success Center was founded in 1998 to give the public greater access to faculty, staff and students from UWO, as well as community-based experts, who combine their experience and professionalism to offer customized training, applied research, survey services, business consulting and student internship programs to local businesses. Students interested in internships can contact Chad Kopitzke at (920) 424-2041 or kopitzkc@uwosh.edu. Businesses and organizations can contact Doug Jarmusz at (920) 424-2366 or jarmuszd@uwosh.edu.