Helping Students Find the Right Career Path at the University of Notre Dame 

Hear Directly from Ross Higginbotham

The Solution

To give students more confidence in choosing a career path, the Fitzgerald Institute for Real Estate introduced McQuaig as part of its career development process.

What began as a tool for students seeking additional career guidance soon became a core part of the Institute's Fire Ignite program. Today, every student completes the McQuaig Word Survey as the third step in the program.

"We created a brand new program called Fire Ignite and we placed McQuaig into the program. So it's now... the third step of a 24-step program that we use to help students find a career in commercial real estate."

Ross meets individually with each student to review their results, helping them better understand their strengths, workplace preferences, and potential career paths.

"I administer the Word Survey for each and every one of our students... I go through everything from interview questions to just the basic personality profile... the coaching tips and the do's and don'ts."

The insights don't stop at graduation. Ross encourages students to share their McQuaig results with future managers to help them build stronger working relationships from day one.

"It's great information for a future hiring manager."

The Results

Since introducing McQuaig, the Fitzgerald Institute for Real Estate has made behavioral insight a core part of its student career development process. After assessing around 20 students initially, the program quickly expanded, with 70 students completing the assessment through the Fire Ignite program in just a few months.

"We only had about 20 students use it in the first 6 months... this last January through... April, May, we assessed 70 students."

The impact has already been evident. Ross recalls one student who came to him feeling "lost." After using the assessment to explore career options aligned with their strengths, the student secured a top real estate internship in New York City and inspired classmates to complete the assessment as well.

"That student... was basically kind of our first success story with our Fire Ignite program... [and] gone on to land a top real estate internship this summer with a great real estate private equity firm in New York City."

While the program is still growing, early results have been encouraging. Most students assessed so far have pursued careers or internships aligned with the direction suggested through the assessment.

"The biggest metric... is of the 70 students that we've assessed, most of them have gone into the field or an adjacent field to what we sort of suggested to them.

Looking Ahead

As the Fire Ignite program continues to grow, the Fitzgerald Institute for Real Estate plans to expand how it uses McQuaig to prepare students for successful careers.

Behavioral insight has become an important part of helping students better understand themselves, explore career options, and enter the workforce with greater confidence. Ross also sees an opportunity to track graduates over time to better understand the long-term impact of the program.

"I'd love to be able to say five years from now... where are they? Are they still in the industry? Are they still in the same position?"

Based on the early success of the program, Ross believes behavioral assessments have an important role to play in helping students make more informed career decisions and build stronger relationships with future employers.

"If I were in charge of career development at a university, this is something I would definitely be using."