Brothers Harriman, he saw the work-friendly MAOP program as a way to build on his prior professional experiences and segue into human resources. His internship at William James field site Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in organizational development provided an opportunity to add even more value to his degree. He helped conduct the annual employee engagement survey and gained experience in how management training programs are developed. Wong鈥檚 internship exposed him to change communication work, the measurement of employee behavior, and the art and science of administering a survey for a 5,000+ organization. When Wong sought to transition from finance to organizational psychology, he came to the College to differentiate himself from others in the field. As he approached graduation and started looking for a position in this field, he networked and actively discussed his organizational development ideas. Wong explains, 鈥淥ne of my mentors shared my ideas with the head of global talent management at Brown Brothers Harriman, who asked if I would join that group given my blended background in finance and organizational psychology. My degree was a platform that enabled me to transition out of my finance role and have an opportunity to pursue my passions.鈥� As an organizational development consultant in the Talent and Development Group, Wong led a talent analytics function in the group. Subsequently, he moved to Deloitte as an organization transformation and talent consultant. 鈥淏ecoming a consultant is a popular career path for people in this field. It鈥檚 hard to break into a big brand name like Deloitte, and I鈥檓 proud that I was able to do that because of my degree.鈥� Now an HR business partner at Akamai, Wong鈥檚 current role focuses on the delivery of HR programs, driving organizational development needs, aligning business objectives with employees and managers and serving as an internal human capital consultant for the business. 鈥淭he MAOP was critical in getting the knowledge and real- life experience needed to achieve my career goals. It facilitated my entry into the field of organizational development and human capital consulting,鈥� says Wong. FOLLOWING PASSION Menard鈥檚 path to organizational psychology also began in the MAOP program, where she started as a part-time student so she could continue working at Forrester. However, after the first term, she knew this was her passion and became a full-time student. An intern at William James field site The Brink鈥檚 Company, she spent several months working for the Global Talent Management organization. A major project was the development of a competency model for the sales organization, identifying specific behaviors鈥攁nd levels of those behaviors鈥� sought in various sales positions. 鈥淭he behaviors included things like customer focus and building relationships. The goal was to create a baseline level of expectations for employees in the organization that was clear for managers, HR, and individuals,鈥� she explains. As a follow-up to that project, she created a process for assessing the workforce using those behaviors with interview guides and scoring mechanisms. That fieldwork taught Menard the critical skill of evaluating employee behaviors, which she says can be harder to define and evaluate than technical skills. 鈥淲hen something is not working right with an employee, it鈥檚 20 RAPPORT | Feature Story