Real Life. Real Business
March 2009
Dear Alumni and Friends,
Yes, it's early spring in central Indiana. As I look out my home
office window, our yellow daffodils are blooming, the smaller
shrubs have tiny green leaves which you can see if you look closely
(it still counts!), and we're on our way to five more days of
temperatures in the low- to mid-60s. With nine days left to go in
March, we can be thankful for the warm weather and the abundance of
green and spring colors that we're soon to enjoy. Unfortunately,
with headlines like, College Graduates Facing Toughest Job Market
in Memory, and employers
expecting to hire 22% fewer graduates than last year, the job
outlook for this year's college graduates feels more like fall
headed into winter.
With unemployment near 8 percent nationally and in Indiana, we're
certainly not immune from these pressures. We know, however, that
our graduates head into today's challenging job market with
advantages that other college students only wish they had, such as
two required internships for credit, one in the junior year and one
as a senior. Because of those required internships, which our
undergraduates have been completing for nearly 25 years, our
students are much more likely to get a job, especially in the
Indianapolis area. Indeed, while one-half of our undergraduate
students come from outside Indiana, over 70 percent of our business
alumni live in the greater Indianapolis. That's directly
attributable to the job opportunities afforded by those
internships.
Over the last five years, however, we've extended the foundation
provided by the two required internships into a four-year,
structured, career development program for undergraduates. In this
month's letter, I'll be providing an overview of the program, which
has a new name, as well as the outstanding results it has achieved
for our graduates.
Despite the challenging job market, it's still an excellent time
to be graduating from Butler's College of Business.
The L. Ben Lytle Professional and Career Development
Program
If you haven't already heard the news, I am pleased to tell you
that our undergraduate career development program was recently
named The L. Ben Lytle Professional and Career Development
Program. Hugh Lytle '96 MBA graduate and
operating executive with Genstar Capital, named the program through
a generous gift to the College in honor of his father, Ben
Lytle.
Ben Lytle is Chairman Emeritus of Wellpoint, Inc. (formerly
known as Anthem, Inc.), where he was Chairman and CEO. Mr. Lytle
currently serves as the Chairman and CEO of AXIA Health Management,
LLC, a provider of prevention and wellness services. We are honored
to have Ben Lytle's name on this hallmark program within the
college.
What makes this gift unique, however, is that Ben Lytle will
visit campus twice a year to contribute directly to the personal
and professional development of our students. One of those two
visits is for the L. Ben Lytle Junior Forum, where Ben
will offer advice to our juniors who are about to enter the
professional world for their first internships. The inaugural Lytle
Junior Forum was held two weeks ago and Ben shared his career
experience with our students and offered personal career and life
advice.
It was a unique learning experience for our students, and an
incredible opportunity to learn from such a recognized and highly
regarded business executive. I want to extend my personal thanks to
both Ben and Hugh Lytle for their generosity and time. As a result,
our students enter the real world better prepared.
Highlights of the four-year Career Development Program
I'd like to highlight some of the key aspects of the career
development program for you. The program is broken down into four
years, with each year providing a different career building block
for business students.
In the freshman year, students learn about themselves by taking
the Myers-Briggs Type Inventory and DISC Profile, and participating
in community service and campus activities. In the sophomore year,
students focus on career exploration by participating in networking
workshops and job shadows. In the junior year, the focus is on job
search skills and includes internships. Unlike most business
schools, Butler requires business students to complete two
internships prior to graduation. In the senior year, students build
on their junior-year work experience to finalize their job
searches.
Career mentors guide students through the entire process. In
addition to an academic advisor, each freshman is assigned a career
mentor from our Executive-in-Residence program. These business
executives formerly worked at companies such as Cummins, General
Motors and IBM. As students move through the career development
process, their career mentors help them clarify their business
interests, pick a major, and then follow them into their
internships to gather feedback from students' bosses and
co-workers.
The two internships are a formal part of the curriculum for
academic credit, with students' grades determined by employer
evaluations and the students' reports on their projects. We have a
full-time staff that helps students find job opportunities;
however, students must apply, seek interviews and otherwise pursue
the internship on their own. We have a remarkable network of
internship companies that expands every year. For example, we are
one of the top three colleges from which Johnson & Johnson
recruits interns for its Financial Development Leadership
Program.
Internships give students an advantage over the competition when
it comes to looking for full-time employment upon graduation. As I
indicated earlier, many internships lead to full-time employment -
and they help our students graduate with more ink on their resume.
Imagine going to an interview as a college student and discussing
two prior internship experiences, being a business owner (through
the Real Business Experience class as a sophomore), and the variety
of real world projects that you worked on for local companies in a
variety of courses. Now that's a competitive advantage! As you can
see, we work hard to prepare our students for a successful career
in business.
Outstanding Results from Our Career Development Program
Our undergraduate job placement numbers demonstrate that
success. For 2007 business graduates, the placement rate six months
after graduation was 97 percent. For accounting majors, it was 100
percent! Preliminary results for 2008 (we're still awaiting results
for December graduates) reflect the slowdown in the economy, but
are still very high at 94 percent. The average starting salary for
graduates, however, rose from $41,290 in 2007 to near $45,000 in
2008.
Getting Involved with Internships and Job Placement
While our career development program gives students tremendous
advantages in today's always changing, competitive job market, you
can also make a difference by contacting the College of Business to learn how
to hire student interns or to set up recruiting visits and
interviews for permanent positions.
If you would like to know more about the benefits of hiring a
Butler student for an internship or full-time employment - or would
like to get involved through mentoring, job shadowing or mock
interviews - please email
me. I look forward to hearing from you!
Chuck Williams, Dean
College of Business
P.S. If you're interested in finding ways to get involved with the
College of Business, please download the document,
How to Partner and Get Involved, and review the 20 options
available to individuals and their organizations. Specific contact
information is available for each option.