Consulting, Finance & Business Roles

No! We have alumni in all areas of business. Similar to what is needed on a resume, there will be some specific skills and points of emphasis, depending on the roles you are most interested in. For example, consulting roles will look for leadership, finance roles will look for analytical skills, and client relations will look for communication skills. The skills needed might be obtained through your major, a certificate, or through everything else you do outside of academics. It might be helpful to talk to alumni from a similar academic background as yours to learn more about their career path. We have alumni who are interested in meeting to talk with you. Check out our Career Conversations here to learn more.

Because many business roles are hiring proactively, you’ll see the most recruitment and job/internship opportunities posting in August and September of the fall semester, often for roles that start the following summer. While most opportunities will be posted in the fall, when you are ready to start your search you’ll see that there are still many opportunities because some companies recruit year round, and others have slightly different timelines and hiring needs. There is never a bad time to start searching, but if you can be ready before the fall semester starts, you’ll have the most opportunities to interact with.

Typically you’ll find paid internships over the summer between academic years in business roles. There are always exceptions, both in terms of finding an internship during the academic year or encountering an unpaid internship. If you have financial need and your internship doesn’t meet that need, SuccessWorks has a program to offer paid and supplemental pay for internships. Learn more here.

Not at all! What most people imagine when they hear “sales” is what is commonly known as ‘outside sales’, and even that is a large category to stereotype. Sales is any way the company interacts with its customers/clients. This includes ‘inside sales’ activities like customer experience, account management, service support staff, and sometimes product development. Outside sales is any sales activity that goes out from the company – i.e. making sales calls, driving in new business and yes, making cold calls.

Common advice is usually that sales is enjoyable when you’re passionate about your product/service. Instead of imagining a used car salesman, imagine the job that sells Google services, or medical devices, or event planning services.

No! Because it is a regulated profession and involves a specific math-set, an accounting career does generally require a degree, especially for more advanced positions. Finance, however, is not the calculation of funds (as accounting is), but the strategic use of funds. This means a candidate can often be taught the principles of finance on the job, but the asset of a finance professional is their critical thinking and problem-solving skills. These can be gained from any liberal arts degree that teaches the student to connect disparate ideas and think comparatively.

They’re great, but not always the right choice for everyone. An MBA is an excellent addition to a resume when it is pursued with purpose. Simply put, completing an MBA program does not guarantee you a pay raise or a Wall Street job. MBA programs are designed to augment and focus an already-existing business knowledge. Most MBA programs strongly encourage candidates to spend a few years in the workforce to best prepare them for the coursework of an MBA program.

The business field is possibly the most flexible of career paths to begin. Many entry-level jobs require a baseline proficiency of administrative, communication and problem-solving skills which can be met by a variety of experience that students gain through their college career. Broadly speaking, anything you are doing to show you can work well with others and get things done will help. That experience  might come from a student job, class project, through campus involvement, or internships.

The trick for you as a student is to explain to others why your experience is transferable. If you can make the connections clear enough, you can make a good case for your candidacy for more positions than you think! Remember, we can help you figure this out! Make an appointment with Brenda to get advice on your options.

Never! It certainly pays to start as soon as possible with high-competition jobs like those on Wall Street, but that just means now is a great time! If you are interested in high-competition career tracks but aren’t sure where to start, begin by networking with alumni in the field to learn about how they got to where they are. Networking will help clarify your options to pursue the career, and will earn you friends in your new networking contacts along the way. You can do this networking at Career Fairs, alumni events, or even via LinkedIn.

If you have an initial draft of your resume and a sense of what you like and enjoy doing, that can be a great place to start exploring careers within the business field relevant to your skills and interests. Here are some helpful resources, including meeting with our peer and grad advisors if you are looking for help building your first college resume. 

Also, if you have a specific role in mind (e.g. I would like to get an internship in consulting), let’s connect to talk through important aspects of your search including hiring timelines, best practices in submitting application materials (e.g. resume), networking, and interview process.