{"id":808,"date":"2020-12-22T19:15:54","date_gmt":"2020-12-22T19:15:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.umflint.edu\/som\/?p=808"},"modified":"2021-03-05T15:01:48","modified_gmt":"2021-03-05T15:01:48","slug":"alumnus-returns-to-wolverine-state-to-progress-strategy-career-decembers-amaizeing-alumni","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.umflint.edu\/som\/2020\/12\/22\/alumnus-returns-to-wolverine-state-to-progress-strategy-career-decembers-amaizeing-alumni\/","title":{"rendered":"Alumnus returns to Wolverine State to progress Strategy Career: December’s aMaizeing Alumni"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0Alexis Menard<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0On December 22, 2020 2:15 pm<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Skott Schoonover<\/strong> , BBA ’11<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Alumnus Skott Schoonover graduated from UM-Flint\u2019s School of Management with a BBA in\u00a0Business Management in 2011. Skott recently accepted a job that brought him back to his home state of Michigan as a Strategy Analyst. During his time at UM-Flint, he was a member of the Entrepreneurs Society, International Business Students Organization, and the Spanish Club. He also attended many football games in the Michigan Big House.

As our featured alumni of the month, Skott gives advice for students thinking of pursuing a career in strategy\/analytics, how he chose his career path, and projects he’s been working on in quarantine, such as writing two children’s books! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: <\/strong>Degree(s) and graduation year:
A: <\/strong>Bachelors of Business Management, 2011<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q:<\/strong> Pursuing another degree?
A: <\/strong>Not currently, but I plan to get my Master\u2019s at some point<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: <\/strong>Where are you currently working and your title? How long have you been in this position or at this organization? What is your normal day to day?
A: <\/strong>I\u2019m a Strategy Analyst at Percepta, which is a subsidiary of Ford, focusing on technology innovations to improve the customer experience. I\u2019ve been with the company for two months. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I spent the previous 7 years at the Enterprise corporate office as a Revenue Management Consulting Analyst. My role was to set rates and determine fleet mix\/availability to increase profitability in the North American markets

Q:<\/strong> Why did you choose UM-Flint for your degree(s)?
A: <\/strong>It offered a top tier education, with the class size of a much smaller university. I wanted a degree that was going to hold prestige, and I also wanted to have engagement in class, to not just be one of 300 other students in an auditorium.

Q: <\/strong>What is one of your favorite experiences at UM-Flint?
A:<\/strong> I worked with the Entrepreneurs Society to partner with Habitat For humanity and a few local groups to conceptualize and build HFH\u2019s first \u201cWork-Live Space\u201d which has become a model used across the country.

And while not UM-Flint specific, Saturday afternoons in the student section at the Big House are an experience that\u00a0I\u2019ll hold in reverence for the rest of my life. It\u2019s something I highly encourage all UM-Flint students to take advantage of!

Q:<\/strong> Why did you choose to go into the career path you are currently in?
A:<\/strong> I\u2019m an outside-the-box thinker, who is always looking for ways to improve everything. With innovation in my blood, Strategy was the logical choice.

Q:<\/strong> What is one of your proudest accomplishments so far
A: <\/strong>Being asked to become an international Revenue Management Consultant was a very proud accomplishment. I had to learn new markets, exchange rates, and customer buying habits. It was incredibly rewarding to be asked to take on such a challenging project and to have success in the role.

Q:<\/strong> What advice would you give students that are thinking of pursuing a career in your field?
A:<\/strong> Be open to opportunities that aren\u2019t what you think you\u2019re looking for, Be willing to put in the hard work necessary to succeed, And be honest with yourself on your strengths, weaknesses, and what truly motivates you.

And with anything in life, Hard Work = Good Luck

Q:<\/strong> Fun Facts!
A: <\/strong>
– During quarantine, I wrote two children\u2019s books that I\u2019m currently trying to get illustrated and published.
– I\u2019ve been in a band that put out an EP.
– And after seven years away, my new position is in Michigan, I\u2019m very excited to be back in the Wolverine State!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By\u00a0Alexis Menard\u00a0On December 22, 2020 2:15 pm Alumnus Skott Schoonover graduated from UM-Flint\u2019s School of Management with a BBA in\u00a0Business Management in 2011. Skott recently accepted a job that brought him back to his home state of Michigan as a Strategy Analyst. During his time at UM-Flint, he was a member of the Entrepreneurs Society, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":409,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[158,55,156],"tags":[149],"class_list":["post-808","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-158","category-alumni-news","category-amaizeing-alumni","tag-school-of-management"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.umflint.edu\/som\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/808","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.umflint.edu\/som\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.umflint.edu\/som\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.umflint.edu\/som\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/409"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.umflint.edu\/som\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=808"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.umflint.edu\/som\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/808\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":811,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.umflint.edu\/som\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/808\/revisions\/811"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.umflint.edu\/som\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=808"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.umflint.edu\/som\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=808"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.umflint.edu\/som\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=808"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}