After graduating with a BA in Economics from Cornell, I spent four years as Marketing Director for a Facilities Management consulting firm prior to returning for my graduate studies.  My work experience honed my skills in listening to customer concerns and providing solutions to address their needs. One of the major challenges that my clients faced was with regards to barriers in information sharing and the silo mentality across departments. I was intrigued by how performance management and rewards programs can be used to motivate employees to be more collaborative towards achieving organization goals. Corporate culture and leadership behavior also help set the tone for establishing a knowledge sharing environment.

Cornell’s joint MBA-MILR degree provided me with ample opportunity to learn more about the HR levers that help align employees with organization goals, as well as explore the challenges that leaders go through in managing a business. Furthermore, my role as research assistant with the Center for Advanced Human Resource Studies (CAHRS) enabled me to explore and research the latest HR issues and trends faced by senior HR executives. Cornell’s robust curriculum not only equips students with comprehensive HR Management and Labor Relations knowledge, it also provides extensive exposure to top HR executives through CAHRS events, featured guest speakers and corporate-sponsored classroom projects. 

I joined Deloitte’s Human Capital Consulting Practice upon graduation. I was attracted to the fast-paced, challenging environment and the opportunity to help clients resolve a wide spectrum of HR and organization issues. During the past one and a half years at Deloitte, I have been involved with multiple projects including conducting a Talent Acquisition benchmark study, analyzing Recruiting ROI, assessing the current state and future state Recruiting model, mapping learning courseware to competency frameworks and developing training material for an organization design and staffing implementation. In addition, I consult with clients in various industries, enabling me to gain a breadth of experiences across healthcare, finance, consumer business and manufacturing organizations.

The rigorous curriculum I experienced at Cornell definitely helped prepare me to hit the ground running on my consulting projects. It's broadened my thinking, challenged my analytical skills and enabled me to narrow my career focus to something I am passionate about. Most importantly, the rich networks and relationships that I had fostered during my time at Cornell have proved invaluable. I am able to tap into my network of fellow MILR classmates and alumni across Corporate America for their help with HR benchmark studies and keeping current with HR issues faced by their respective organizations. 

- Karina Li Ming Kuok, MBA-MILR '05