By Sean Garner

Senior Reporter

As Ale Hejase was sitting in his Beirut, Lebanon home in 2005 talking to his father about his future, he knew what he wanted to study. Four years later, the 22-year-old Oakland University senior finance major thinks he might have made a mistake.

Hejase entered the School of Business Administration in August 2005 with the intent of finding a job in the thriving investment sector. Now, as he prepares to graduate from OU in May, economic recession has hit his chosen profession as hard as any other field.

As if sobering economic realities were not enough, Hejase, who came to OU after his father recommended he study under finance professor Austin Murphy, said he is less than impressed with the way OU has prepared him for the job market.

“That one professor, Austin Murphy, yes he did [live up to his reputation],” Hejase said. “Honestly … the rest of the university wasn’t exactly what I thought [it would be].”

Hejase said OU did not do an adequate job in allowing him to gain the practical experience that would make him competitive in the job market. Hejase said that he was interested in developing software skills at OU, but could not find a program or sufficient courses to assist him in attaining those skills. He said he was even more dismayed when he heard about the Applied Technology in Business minor within the SBA.

“I basically heard about this ATiB program last semester, at the end of it, and I could not really get into it, because it’s for second-year students,” Hejase said.

Softer side of business

Perhaps Hejase would have gotten more out of his education had he been starting in SBA now rather than four years ago. Mohan Tanniru, the dean of SBA, said OU is adapting quickly to the increasingly competitive global market and offering more expansive services to provide students with the skills needed to possess and maintain a job.

“We always trained our students well, but there has been greater emphasis recently on giving them more opportunities to gain additional skills such as experiential learning, global interactions, leadership, etc.,” Tanniru said. “Our programs like ACHIEVE and SCHOLARS, and global reach are intended to make our students competitive. We are also changing some of our graduate programs, so that they can be completed in a shorter time frame and attract international students.”

ACHIEVE is a program new to SBA as of this year. It is a required part of the curriculum, and requires freshmen to attend sessions on topics such as business etiquette and networking, as well as participating in mock job interviews.

According to Laurie Shano, an academic advisor for SBA, the top priority of ACHIEVE is helping students find career paths that are compatible with their interests and abilities.

“It is meant to hone their soft skills, expose them to resources, provide networking opportunities and, most of all, enable them to learn about the majors in business so that they can choose the one that they realize they are best suited for,” Shano said.

Shano said ACHIEVE events like Networking with Professionals help instruct students on how to communicate with accomplished businesspeople long before they ever have to worry about making business cards.

“They’re learning how to craft their own self-introduction,” Shano said. “Simple things like eye contact, handshakes, being able to speak eloquently without your voice shaking, those things are critical and aren’t necessarily learned unless they are taught and

practiced.”

Hejase said he wishes there were more opportuninities offered during his academic career and said he could have benefited from developing his “soft skills.”

Partnering up

On top of preparing students for a cutthroat job market, SBA officials said they are committed to helping combat recent economic trends.

OU recently announced the development of the Center for Integrated Business Research and Education, which allows students and faculty to participate in collaborative educational and professional projects. Tanniru said CIBRE could become one of SBA’s most valuable resources.

“CIBRE is developed to provide a single focal point for the business school,” Tanniru said “Businesses and community leaders can work with us to support advances in business research, educate business students to become successful business professionals and leaders, and address continuing educational needs of the community.”

Still, a number of students are feeling the effects of the beaten economy.

Jeff Wajer, a junior marketing major who works full time with a digital marketing firm closely tied to the auto industry, said he is worried that people in his field are becoming more expendable as economic times get tough.

“We’ve felt the impact quite a bit,” Wajer said. “Usually in the business environment, the marketing people and the salespeople are the first to get cut in a structure like that.”

Tanniru said the recession is hampering SBA in significant direct ways, forcing them to be creative when trying to institute new programs.

Wajer said that although the economy is rough, he thinks a business degree is one of the most useful degrees to have because of the options it provides.

“It’s a pretty versatile degree,” Wajer said. “I feel that, with a business degree, you can do a wide range of different career paths. If you’re going into nursing or something, you’re kind of just stuck in that one field of work.”

Marketing yourself

Some students feel that with the job market as competitive as ever, it is even more important for students to be able to market themselves.

Wajer is a member of the business fraternity Alpha Kappa Psi, and said that he is exposed to a number of real world business situations and makes connections with employers through the fraternity, which he believes will make him more marketable when he graduates.

One of Wajer’s fraternity brothers, junior finance major Kevin DeBastos, said that Alpha Kappa Psi is “a lot like ACHIEVE, just on a higher level.”

DeBastos said he has really enjoyed his academic experience in SBA, and feels he has had opportunities to develop his business skills.

“If you have time, they’re always willing to talk to you about an assignment or whatever you need,” DeBastos said. “We have a few executives in house … you can talk to them and pick their brains. That’s a huge advantage that a lot of students aren’t taking the opportunity to do.”

DeBastos said he is in the process of working with his advisor to apply for internships. Unlike DeBastos, Hejase, said he tried to use SBA resources to help him find an internship, but was on his own when looking for one.

Hejase said that when he graduates in May, his degree will only offer him limited opportunities.

“Basically, it’s a good degree to have if you just want to stay in the immediate Detroit area,” Hejase said. “If you want to do something else, the degree doesn’t mean that much … When it comes to recent college graduates, I feel that I am on the lower end of the division.”