How Networking Helped Mercy Nyoni, MBA ’25, Get a Job at Pittsburgh Public Schools
Mercy Nyoni poses for a photo in Schenley Plaza. (Mick Stinelli)
When Mercy Nyoni, MBA ’25, graduated from Chatham University in May last year, the clock was ticking. She had just three months to land a job or go home to Zimbabwe.
Nyoni went to a career fair and talked to representatives from Pittsburgh Public Schools, who told her they had an open position for which Nyoni was qualified. Before June had ended, she was hired as an assistant manager of accounts payable.
In addition to her coursework in the Master of Business Administration program, Nyoni says her work in Chatham’s Office of Career Development and the business school helped prepare her for her current job at Pittsburgh Public Schools.
“Apparently I have great skills, because they sponsored me,” she says laughing. “Now I have my work visa, which is amazing, because I can spend more years in the country.”
Nyoni grew up in Bulawayo, a city in southeastern Zimbabwe, and later worked in the capital city, Harare, before coming to Pittsburgh in 2023 to attend graduate school at Chatham.
At first, she says, adjusting to the cold weather was difficult. And, though she’d been speaking British English since she was a child, she still had difficulty with American dialects and vocabulary.
“I said the ‘boot’ of the car, and someone was like, ‘What are you talking about?’” she recalls. “I didn’t even know how to explain. ‘I’m talking about that thing!’ She says, ‘Oh, you mean the trunk.’ It was a big adjustment in class too.”
But she says she received help from a lot of people at Chatham, such as Karin Chipman, director of the Office of Global Engagement.
Nyoni says, “When I came to America, my main concern was acceptance. Are people going to accept me, coming from Africa?” But Chipman gave her reassurance: “‘Just be you.’ She knew the misconceptions I had.… I took that advice. At school, I’d just be me.”
Nyoni stands for a photo in the Jennie King Mellon Library in fall 2024. (Mick Stinelli)
While at Chatham, Nyoni worked for the Office of Career Development and the School of Business and Enterprise (now the Falk School of Environment, Leadership, and Management). Those jobs were part of her education too, she says; even though Nyoni had work experience in Harare, she still had to learn new work skills and pick up American business vocabulary.
In class, she enjoyed doing simulations with her classmates and developing new skills in strategy, finance, marketing, and leadership. She also loved her accounting courses. “I love numbers,” she says.
And she fondly remembers faculty members such as David Atkins, who opened her mind with critical thinking exercises. “He wouldn’t bash you for making a mistake,” she says. “And he wouldn’t tell you which approach to take, but he’d show you a different avenue you didn’t think about.”
Keratiloe Mogotsi, assistant professor of management, was another one who stood out. “She always did these small, team-building exercises that helped with communication. She was one of the professors that made everything worthwhile at Chatham.”
Now, at Pittsburgh Public Schools, all she learned at Chatham is helping her manage the finances of a district with more than 60 schools. During her first year there, she helped introduce new systems to improve processing of invoices and payments.
“I love working with people, I love analyzing things,” Nyoni says.
And working for the school district has also helped Nyoni fall in love with Pittsburgh, she says. It’s given her opportunities to attend Pirates baseball games and go to Kennywood Park (“I’m afraid of rides,” she says, “but I’ll have a hot dog.”).
As for other international students, Nyoni says: “I’d advise international students to network more. If there’s a networking or career event, just go there. Talk to people. Get contact information. You never know! By the time you graduate, you’ll have this portfolio of people you’ve talked to who can point you in the right direction.”
Learn more about Chatham’s Master of Business Administration program at chatham.edu.