Written by: Morgan Webb ‘25, Marketing Specialist
One of the many treasures of Loyola Marymount University’s Career and Professional Development (CPD) office is our connection to employers in the greater Los Angeles area and beyond. From on-campus events like our Casual Career Conversations and career fairs to company visits on LMU Career Treks around the country, our office provides endless opportunities for LMU students to grow their network with our employer relations. One of our Partner Alliance Members and career center sponsors, Enterprise Mobility, is a model of our goal of helping student’s careers prosper both through part-time internships and full-time job placements.
Avery Tassan, a 2024 LMU graduate and economics major, formed a connection with a recruiter from this Fortune 500 company, Karen Gerstenacker, who assisted her in kickstarting her career in sales. After hearing Gerstenacker speak about Enterprise’s Management Trainee program in one of her classes senior year the recent graduate became intrigued with the company and its career growth opportunities. Upon graduating, Avery applied to the Management Trainee program in November, went through two rounds of interviews, and began the job at their Santa Monica branch just two months later in January 2025.
“Our Management Trainee role is our entry level position with a career path into management or different business lines in our company,” Gerstenacker said. “Anyone in any kind of manager or supervisor role had to begin their career in our entry level position and promote from within based on performance. The program really teaches our employees how to run a business from the ground up including operations, finances, customer relations, risk management, marketing and entrepreneurship.”
Avery Tassan ’24 with Karen Gerstenacker of Enterprise
Through this program, Avery shares that she is learning more about the backend of the business, particularly in terms of interacting with other companies and their customers and further enhancing her customer service expertise. “Customer service is Enterprise’s whole world – it’s their number one priority,” Tassan said.
In addition to pursuing her career in sales, Tassan looks forward to expanding her marketing and leadership skillset within this position.
Throughout the interview process, the alumna appreciated the company’s transparency about both the next steps in the recruitment process and the job itself. She immediately felt like part of the team as she got to make connections with leaders of various Enterprise Mobility departments right away by learning about their career paths at a national and global level.
“Everyone [at Enterprise Mobility] wants you to be successful and everyone is always willing to help,” she said. With this, Tassan values the wide variety of avenues employees can take within the company and their prioritization of internal promotions.
When going through the job-search process as a recent LMU graduate, Tassan shared that she was worried about finding the “perfect” job, but quickly learned that she needed to start somewhere. “I wished I had known about more opportunities that may not have necessarily been exactly what I thought I wanted to do, but just to be more open,” she said. “The hard work does pay off.”
Tassan’s advice to fellow Lions is to do all your research before the interview to ensure knowledge about the position, in addition to showing your investment in the company. She shared that she visited multiple Enterprise Mobility branches in Southern California and talked with various employees to hear about their experience at the business. Not only did that excite her about the many opportunities for growth within the firm, but she also received advice from current employees to proceed with the interview process confidently.
As Avery Tassan sets off on her career at Enterprise Mobility, her journey is a testament to the wonderful opportunities that LMU Career and Professional Development provides and the power of employer relations in shaping meaningful careers. There are many opportunities to connect with Enterprise Mobility through CPD’s programming including the upcoming Just in Time Career Fair on April 3. Email CPDEmployerRelations@lmu.edu or message Enterprise Mobility on Handshake to get started.
