Looking at the career services a university offers is a smart move for prospective online students. That’s one criterion Daniel Vargas (CMBA ’12, BBA ’05) used to select Florida International University (FIU) for his online Corporate MBA (CMBA).
“I had reached the ceiling in my job and needed to improve my credentials,” Vargas said. “My heart was with my alma mater so FIU’s online MBA was an option I investigated. I was impressed to learn that the business school’s Career Management Services (CMS) would be there for me.”
Vargas found the CMS staff ready, willing and able to help online students as enthusiastically as they assist their on-campus counterparts.
“As I got closer to graduation and sent out 50 résumés with no response, I turned to CMS,” Vargas said. “They helped me narrow my focus, taught me résumé writing and interviewing skills, and because of them, I landed a job as an e-marketing consultant with Caterpillar’s Americas Distribution Services just weeks after graduation.”
Career services provides for all business students.
Many universities don’t offer the same kind of services in career management to all of their students in the business school. Some offer limited help but not to online students.
“All business students—undergrad, grad, on-campus, online—and alumni have full access to this office,” said Barry Shiflett, CMS executive director in the College of Business Administration. “When any student is seriously interested in our help, I put the full force of this office to work for them.”
CMS provides self-assessment tools, individual student advising, résumé polishing and other important career-forwarding tools. The office also partners with employers who recruit business students.
Online students interact with the staff of CMS through emails and telephone conversations.
“There’s not a doubt in my mind that I’d still be looking for a job without what CMS did for me,” Vargas said.
In fall 2012 three programs—the Master in International Business (MIB), the Master of Science in International Real Estate (MSIRE) and the Master of Science in Human Resource Management (MSHRM)—will join the Corporate MBA in the college’s online graduate programs lineup.
