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Students get practical advice at YSU Business Career Week
By Chelsea Miller
Youngstown
For college students in the business field, the future looks bright.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the field is projected to be one of the fastest-growing job sectors, with a projected 3.8 million more jobs by 2020. Of the 20 industries expected to have the most growth, five are in this field.
This week, Youngstown State University’s Williamson College of Business Administration is having Business Career Week to help students snag these jobs.
Business Career Week consists of a series of employer panel discussions and student workshops for students pursuing careers in the business field. These panels focus on career and internship placement, help drafting r sum s and networking.
Betty Jo Licata, dean of the college of business administration, said business is a compelling field for students looking to land a job after graduation.
“There are many career opportunities,” she said. “There’s a very, very diverse set of opportunities.”
Licata said most business students choose to major in accounting or marketing, with 400 students pursuing accounting and 250 choosing marketing this semester. She said students pick these majors because they are familiar with them, but these fields also are expected to have the most opportunities.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics report says careers in bookkeeping, auditing and accounting are expected to increase 13.6 percent, while market-research specialists and marketing analysts will increase 41.2 percent.
Kolt Codner, who graduated from YSU, majored in marketing and works at the Youngstown Department of Public Works.
Codner said marketing is appealing to students because of the number of career choices.
“With marketing, I think you get a very holistic look into an organization, and it’s a very diverse skill set that allows you to deploy a number of different opportunities within an organization,” he said.
Codner, along with fellow YSU graduates Tara Mady and Jessie Wright, led a discussion with a group of students on the importance of internships. Codner landed his job through an internship, and Mady credits her internship experience with helping her to find a job.
“I really was just looking for the most experience that I could get,” Mady said. “I had been in contact with people from the business school that had really encouraged it. It’s something just to take advantage of and get a good experience.”
Despite encouragement from professors at the college of business administration, an internship is not required of business majors, said Gwenn Clark.
Clark is a professional- practice program coordinator at the university. She teaches professionalism courses to students, including dining etiquette, and helps prepare students for internships and co-ops.
Because there are no requirements, Clark cannot say how many students have been placed with an internship, but said she believes at least a third of students graduating from the WBCA have at least one internship. Clark added that because many internships are unpaid, students are hesitant to apply.
Clark said internships are important, however, if students want to have a better chance at full-time employment.
“You get this exposure,” she said. “For [internships] that aren’t paid, the trade-off is networking.”
Career Week is free to all interested YSU students, and registration is not required.