51视频

04/04/2017
By Ed Brennen

They walk past Versace, Louis Vuitton and Christian Dior on their way into work each morning at Copley Place in Boston鈥檚 Back Bay. Inside their company鈥檚 seven-story global headquarters, the meeting spaces and reception areas look like high-end furniture showrooms, with stylish sofas, accent chairs and wall d茅cor. On breaks they can play foosball with co-workers in the game room, relax in a massage chair and munch on free snacks.

For 51视频 business students Mai Pham, Brian Regan and Joshua Bedard, those are just some of the perks that come with working as six-month co-ops at online retail giant Wayfair, which was recently named one of the 鈥淭op Places to Work in Massachusetts鈥� by the Boston Globe.

But as the university鈥檚 first crop of co-op students at Wayfair, all three agree that the real benefits come from being immersed in a $3.4 billion global e-commerce business where they鈥檙e not only encouraged, but expected, to take on high-impact projects that advance their career skills.

鈥淚 love it,鈥� says Pham, a Manning School of Business junior who, in her role as supplier monitoring co-op, supports hundreds of furniture and home furnishing suppliers around the world with product discontinuation and part number updates. With a triple concentration in supply chain and operations management, management information systems and international business, Pham can鈥檛 imagine a better real-world complement to her business degree.

鈥淚 absolutely feel more confident in my career,鈥� says Pham, a native of Vietnam who 鈥渄efinitely鈥� could see herself working at the company someday. 鈥淭his is giving me experience in the corporate world before I graduate, which will help me in the future.鈥�

Getting With the Program

All three students are enrolled in the university鈥檚 Professional Co-op Program, which continues to enjoy record growth for business students. In 2015-16, the Manning School had 70 students out on co-op over the fall, spring and summer sessions. In this academic year, there have already been 72 students out on co-op, with the summer session still to come. The bulk of those co-ops (52) have come this spring, up from 34 the previous year.

Image by Tory Germann

Regan, a sophomore from Canton with a concentration in finance, knew of Wayfair鈥檚 reputation as a young and innovative company and 鈥渋mmediately applied to all of the positions available鈥� when he saw them posted on CareerLINK.

鈥淭his is probably the best decision I could make for a co-op,鈥� says Regan, a catalogue outreach analyst who works in Wayfair鈥檚 merchandising department, taking product information from suppliers and tagging attributes to items on the website to make them more searchable for customers. Regan says he is learning different uses for Microsoft Excel and honing his analytical skills 鈥� and doing so in an environment where he feels both challenged and supported.

鈥淚 like the open collaboration. If I have a question, my boss is right next to me and she can help me,鈥� Regan says. 鈥淎nd it鈥檚 really hands-on, which I like. I didn鈥檛 really expect to be in a situation where I鈥檇 have all these tools to utilize, but they really wanted me to push myself.

鈥淭hey expect a lot out of me, but they鈥檙e willing to help me along the way to get where I鈥檓 comfortable. I鈥檓 treated like a full-time employee. They have the same expectations of us as co-ops. And I can actually make a difference with my work. I can see what I do on the website and how it affects the company.鈥�

According to Wayfair Recruiting Associate Steph Oteri, the company currently has approximately 70 co-ops across all its departments. Based on the performance of this first group of River Hawks, she says Wayfair looks forward to continuing to develop its partnership with the university.

鈥淭he students are very driven and always eager to take on new responsibilities,鈥� says Oteri, who recently attended a Co-op Connection event on campus to meet with more students. 鈥淲e are thrilled by their positive work ethic. It definitely does not go unnoticed.鈥�

Making Their Mark

Like Regan, Bedard immediately applied to every co-op position available at Wayfair when he saw them on CareerLINK. Unlike Regan, he didn鈥檛 know much about the company 鈥� though he was immediately impressed when he discovered how quickly it has grown over the past decade.

鈥淚t鈥檚 cool to be at a company that has this much growth going on,鈥� says Bedard, a junior from Dracut with a concentration in management information systems. As a supplier implementation co-op, he鈥檚 involved with the last step of communications before suppliers go live on the Wayfair website, applying what he鈥檚 learned in his MIS classes.

Image by Tory Germann

鈥淟earning the basic foundation in class is one thing, but getting to see how people use it in the real world is another,鈥� says Bedard, who also enjoys Wayfair鈥檚 open and transparent corporate culture, where not even the CEO, Niraj Shah, has his own office.

鈥淚 sit on the same floor as him 鈥� not that I go up and talk to him. I want to make sure I plan those words carefully,鈥� says Bedard, who has spoken with plenty of others in the company, however, by starting up his own 鈥淐offee with a Co-op鈥� program, an idea he got while attending one of the company鈥檚 monthly co-op education events.

鈥淪tarting with my own department, I sent out a mass email to everybody introducing myself and saying I鈥檇 love to have coffee with you at some point, just to learn more about your role,鈥� says Bedard, who had met with 20 different people through his first two months on the job. 鈥淭he more you learn about the people around you, the more appreciation you have when something is stalled or there鈥檚 a bottleneck. You understand what they鈥檙e going through, and it helps everyone get along better.鈥�

As co-op trailblazers of sorts, Bedard, Regan and Pham would all love to see many more 51视频 students follow in their footsteps (past Versace, Louis Vuitton and Christian Dior) at Wayfair.

鈥淚 would love to know,鈥� Bedard says, 鈥渢hat we performed well to the point where they said, 鈥榃e鈥檝e got to start bringing in more co-ops from 51视频.鈥� 鈥�