Building a Network as an Econ major in Arts and Sciences
I'm a rising sophomore. My school's business school is a target. However, I'm a Econ major in Arts and Sciences. I'm not sure how to approach the whole recruiting and networking side of things. B-school kids and Arts and Sciences kids alike tell me that going to corporate presentations and career fairs is awkward and sometimes hopeless because the events are almost always 95% B-school students and with all the kids there, the recruiters sometimes scoff at Econ Arts and Sciences students.
So how should I network and effectively get my resume out there? Would cold-emailing or reaching out to bank execs work and alumni work? Or should I do something else? Suggestions appreciated.
Anyone with experience being in this situation?






NYU?
NYU?
Just used linkedin..etc to
Just used linkedin..etc to reach out to alumni. Do good internships. No one is going to ding you for being an econ major
I just graduated from a
I just graduated from a similar situation as you. I wouldn't put too much stock into those presentations, there's just too many people surrounding the attendees from the banks for you to be able to get any good networking time anyways. That being said, I would still put in the time and go, but just don't expect too much from it.
I would focus more of my time on reaching out to alumni (either through the school's mentor network or through LinkedIn). CAS econ grads will be more receptive to you since they came from a similar background.
You should still go to your
You should still go to your school's events for a couple of reasons. For one thing, there's probably a sign-in sheet. It sounds like you go to a target school, and I can tell you that on resume review day (the day when the bankers, usually alumni, get together and decide which students from your school are going to get interviews) HR will provide a stack of resumes and a list of who signed into the oncampus event. It looks a lot better for you if your name is on that list.
Secondly, it's true that the bank representatives get swarmed. At the same time, however, students are pretty inefficient and follow counterproductive herd mentality: most students pile onto the swarm. Stand back and watch, and there will usually be one or two bankers getting swarmed and you can find one that is being completely ignored. Go and talk to them. If you can make it through enough of them, you'll probably find one in five that has a liberal arts background. There are fewer of you out there, but you have an instant rapport.