Road Map

In Brief

Year 1: Build a foundation
Year 2: Focus your interest and start your professional network
Year 3: Gain experiences and expand your professional network
Year 4: Leverage your network + tell your story → launch
Example academic plans

Year 1: Build a foundation

Quin Brunner'21, one of the Boathouse founders, signs students up before they hit the water. Welcome to the School of Business! In addition to starting your academic journey, your first-year courses through the Advanced Mentoring Program (AMP) are where you meet your peers, get to know faculty, and learn about all the opportunities at the School of Business and Beloit College.

Career Works offers AMP Connect Sessions and Career Accelerators on topics ranging from building your strengths, creating your first resume, picking a major, and more. These sessions offer you the opportunity to plan out your first few semesters and in doing so, gain some professional skills right from the start.

Get involved. Take advantage of the co-curricular opportunities, including Investment Club, Women in Economics and Business club, MakerLab, Beloit Mixed Media, Buccaneer Boathouse, and other clubs and organizations.

Year 2: Focus your interest and start your professional network

Business Networking Summit Feb 2024 Declare your major with the Business School. Choose from Business Management, Organizational Leadership, and Quantitative Economics. Select your academic advisor and develop an academic plan that serves both your passion and your career interests.

Complement your major with minors, such as Finance, Marketing, Entrepreneurship, or Sport Management. Try some Coursera mini-certifications in Marketing & Ecommerce, Social Media Marketing, Marketing Analytics, Project Management, Sales, Logistics, and more.

Develop an individualized career plan with a career coach. Receive personalized feedback on your resume and linkedin profile. Start building your professional network. As part of your coursework, you’ll learn how to do an informational interview and be matched with an alumni in a field of your choice.

Year 3: Gain experiences and expand your professional network

Begin seeking real-world experiences and internships. Leverage Impact Beloit’s Community Connections and Alumni Connections, and apply for an internship through the Community Fellowship Program or the Concierge Internship Program.

Attend the Business School’s annual Business Networking Summit in February in Chicago, at the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business. Connect with alumni industry professionals, expand your network, and in the process, learn about internship opportunities.

Spring semester junior year is the most popular and recommended time to study off campus or abroad. Popular off-campus domestic programs for Business School’s students include a semester in Washington, DC at the American University and “Intern Philly” (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania). For overseas study, consider programs at universities in the UK, Belgium, and Australia.

Year 4: Leverage your network + tell your story → launch

Leverage the professional network that you worked so hard to build in the previous three years. Connect with people in your network to get job referrals and help with resumes and cover letters, or do mock interviews in preparation for job applications.

Graduates of the Business School secure employment in a variety of fields. Most popular are finance, consulting, marketing, entrepreneurship, and data/business analytics. The median early-career annual salary for graduates is $85,000 (based on 2023 career outcomes survey) with recent placements at JP Morgan Chase, Ziegler Capital, Group One Trading, Deloitte Consulting, NERA Consulting, and others.

Through the Upton Forum, learn to think big to become a visionary business leader. As part of the senior capstone, engage with and get feedback on your senior projects from the Upton Scholar - a leading thinker in the field of economics and business (see the list of scholars, including three Nobel Memorial Prize Winners).

President Eric Boynton talking with alumni and student at Business Networking Summit 2024 President Eric Boynton talking with alumni and student at Business Networking Summit 2024

Example academic plans

When	Academic Planning	Career Planning
Year 1	Principles of Econ Fundamentals of Accounting and Finance Intro to Visual Studies	Attend career workshops organized by Career Works and AMP Draft your first resume Create your linkedin profile Join a student club/organization. Apply for an entry-level position on campus, such as front desk assistant at the PowerHouse.
Summer		Find a summer job, while continuing to research and explore career options.
Year 2	Intermediate Microeconomics Intermediate Macroeconomics BUSN 230 Consumer Behavior Human-centered Design Thinking 1 business elective (Business Ethics for example)	Meet with career advisor to make an individualized career plan for a marketing career; get connected to alumni in marketing Apply for an on-campus job related to marketing (for example, econ department assistant helps update econ website and write alum stories; or a position with the Office of Communication and Marketing)
Summer		Get an internship or summer job (ideally it should be marketing-related)
Year 3	Quant Methods for Business & Econ Digital Marketing and E-commerce; Marketing Principles and Strategy Business Management Economics 1 business elective (The Art of Leading for example)	Apply for a marketing internship through Impact Beloit’s internship program Apply for a position with the student-run market research firm Belmark Associates Attend the Business Networking Summit in Feb to get help with internship search
Summer		Do an internship on marketing. Apply for internship award.
Year 4	Senior Seminar for Business and Econ 1 business elective (Marketing Research Workshop for example) Reduce regular course load to do internship (for credit) during the school year	On your own, apply for and get an internship or part-time job on marketing in or near the city of Beloit Attend Business Networking Summit in February to get help with job search.

Results

You’ve acquired your knowledge and skills in business and marketing.
You’ve built your professional network.
You’ve accumulated marketing-related experiences on your resume.
You are ready to launch, so go out there, compete, and get your first job in marketing.

When	Academic Planning	Career Planning
Year 1	Principles of Econ Fundamentals of Accounting and Finance Calculus I Calculus II	Attend career workshops organized by Career Works and AMP Draft your first resume Create your linkedin profile Join the Investment Club. Apply for an entry-level position on campus, such as front desk assistant at the Powerhouse.
Summer		Find a summer job, while continuing to research and explore career options.
Year 2	Intermediate Microeconomics Intermediate Macroeconomics Corporate Finance 1 econ elective (Sports Economics, for example) Linear Algebra	Meet with career advisor to make an individualized career plan for a finance career; get connected to alumni in finance Apply for an on-campus job related to finance (for example, a position in the Office of Accounting and Finance, or become a teaching assistant for the course Fundamentals of Accounting and Finance)
Summer		Get an internship or summer job (it’s probably not finance-related yet)
Year 3	Quant Methods for Business & Econ Money and Banking Investment and Portfolio Management 1 econ elective (for example, Machine Learning for Business and Economics course)	Apply for a finance internship through Impact Beloit’s internship program Attend the Business Networking Summit in Feb to get help with internship search.
Summer		Do an internship on finance. Apply for internship award.
Year 4	Senior Seminar for Business and Econ 1 econ elective (International Trade and Finance for example) Reduce regular course load to do internship (for credit) during the school year	On your own, apply for and get an internship or part-time job on finance in or near the city of Beloit Attend Business Networking Summit in February to get help with job search.