People always say that bigger is better. But in the case of graduating Fairfield seniors, is business always better?
Matt Castillo ’07 thinks so.
Castillo, a finance major in the Dolan School of Business, said that his business classes were difficult all four years but they are finally paying off.
He has secured a post-graduation job in Stamford with UBS, a top tier investment banking and securities firm.
“I got the job as a summer internship through eRecruiting,” a Web site used by Fairfield’s Career Planning Center, he said, adding that assistance from Career Planning and school faculty helped him find the job.
“The school is helpful and gives good guidance,” he said. “But you have to get out there and do it yourself.”
He also said that being in the School of Business, as opposed to other University schools, made it easier to obtain employment.
“For [liberal arts majors], it seems harder. From what I saw at career fairs, there were more financial companies and financial services,” he said. “It also seems like Fairfield pushes it (business).”
Business student Diane Fields ’07, however, said it is impossible to judge whether business students are afforded better opportunities.
“I can’t really comment on whether or not students at Fairfield are better off being in the business school when it comes to finding jobs,” she said. “I do know that the business school exposed me to the correct people to get information about my internship and pointed me in the right direction.”
An information systems major, Fields currently has a job with General Electric Commercial Finance’s Information Management Leadership Program.
The two-year rotational program based out of Connecticut moves employees to “a new location so that you experience as much of General Electric businesses as possible.”
She applied for an internship with GE Fleet Services through Fairfield’s eRecruiting Web site, as well.
Another business school student, Andrew Crocco ’07, has a job lined up with the public accounting firm Ernst ‘ Young. Though he secured the job on his own, the former Sacred Heart University student said Career Planning and business school faculty helped a great deal.
“I had utilized Career Planning for resume-building and interview workshops while at Sacred Heart and here at Fairfield. I am very glad I did because I had no idea how to write a professional resume,” he said. “I had a lot of guidance from my adviser, and professor Caster was especially helpful.”
However, Crocco said that students are not necessarily better off in the business school, as Fairfield has successful programs for all undergraduates.
“It all depends on your interests and the amount of effort you apply to getting an internship,” said Crocco. “There are tons of jobs out there. I know plenty of non-business majors who had internships with newspapers, bio-tech laboratories and hospitals.”
Timothy Snyder, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, agreed.
“I think some students are better off in one school and other students in another, overall. It depends on the student, and it applies to all schools at Fairfield. The education the College provides is as good as any I know of, at Fairfield or elsewhere,” he said.
In terms of finding a job, he added, Arts and Sciences students “regularly obtain fabulous positions.” What students do not realize is that all companies, business-related and otherwise, look for qualities that all majors should exhibit.
“Employers nationwide,” Snyder said, “want students who can read, write, communicate orally, process information, discern problems that need to be solved amidst complex situations” and much more.
None of this, he said, requires a particular major or enrollment in a given school.
Though Dean of the School of Business Norman Solomon could not be reached for comment, Director of Career Planning Cathleen Borgman echoed Synder’s sentiments.
“I think business majors are very talented and great,” said Borgman, “but I think it’s really important in a corporate environment to get a diverse set of skills in a department. … You want people with all sorts of different skills because then they can really round everything out and bring a different perspective.”
Borgman, who graduated from Fairfield in 1980 with a degree in psychology, said the business versus arts and science controversy existed even when she was at Fairfield.
“The arts and sciences majors immediately said, ‘there’s nothing here for me,’ and they didn’t even look. And the reality is, nothing’s changed. But it’s all about how you package yourself and present yourself to the public,” she said. “If you come in with a defeatist attitude, you’re just going to have that much more of a rough time.”
Borgman said the idea that business majors have it easier is not a total myth. However, “they’re competing with their peers and not everybody’s getting offers. Even for the accounting majors that everybody says it’s easy, it’s not easy.”
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