Career Talk radio show provides employment advice

Students have a plethora of opportunities when it comes to learning more about the job search process. However, there is a resource they might not know about — the show Career Talk on Wharton Business Radio on Sirius XM. 

This call-in show is hosted by Dawn Graham, who is the director of career management for the Executive MBA Program at Wharton, and runs every Monday from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m.Show guests include headhunters, interviewing experts and networking specialists. A recent guest was well-known "millennial workplace expert" Lindsey Pollak, who spoke about the most efficient usage of LinkedIn.

The show has been running since August 10, and was inspired by both Graham’s experience as a career coach, corporate recruiter and licensed psychologist and by the lack of a radio show catered towards finding a job within the Wharton Business Radio station.

“My passion is really around taking that experience from being a corporate recruiter on the other side of the desk and helping people who are now in the job seeker position understand the ins and outs and also the psychological perspective of the job search," Graham said. "A lot of the job search is very psychological based because it’s about a relationship between two people, really influencing various aspects of the interview.” 

The show itself has a practical bent, but also maintains a conversational tone. Each week’s show has a specific topic with a guest expert, with callers chiming in for a variety of inquiries.

“It’s very much as if you were invited into the living room and are having a conversation with me and the expert," Graham said. "We invite callers to really call in on any topic. A lot of students who’ve recently graduated call in and ask about how to present themselves to employers without experience or people call in who are looking to change jobs and basically how to present themselves differently to make that career change.” 

The show broadcasts across North America. As a result, most callers are from outside of Penn, ranging from CEOs to concerned parents with kids coming out of college. Still, Graham said she hopes to broaden the show’s impact on the Penn community.

“I would love more students to call into the show," Graham said. "Another reason I thought this would be helpful is because even though Penn does a great job with this [Career Services] I think there can always be more resources. We’re really looking at this as a resource for the Penn community but also for the larger community, for individuals who may not have any access to career coaching.” 

Overall, the show is meant to give listeners diverse ways of approaching the job market, approaches that they might not have previously even thought about.

“My goal with the show is to make it very practical so that anybody who listens to it walks away with a website or an article reference or some other type of advice. It’s a fun show to listen. It’s lively and energetic with a lot of banter with a dynamic that makes it feel like you’re there,” Graham said. 

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