The Business Externship Program puts you in contact with employers so you can get an insider’s view of career pathways you are interested in. Since this experience comes before you are fully enrolled in your major coursework, it helps with major selection and reduces stress by helping you to be confident in your choice of major. Often these early relationships with companies blossom into future opportunities such as mentorship and internships.

Nearly all of the academic programs and registered student organizations are involved in statewide, regional and national case competitions. You can gain valuable experience with common or emerging business issues, test your skills against top students from other schools and network with industry leaders who host or judge the competitions. 

WMU students consistently perform well at competitions, even earning national recognition in food marketing and sales competitions, among others. 

WMU Haworth offers many programs that prepare you for the workforce. The Zhang Career Center will help you develop the skills to confidently articulate and demonstrate your career readiness to potential employers. 

Many academic programs and student organizations can prepare you to take professional certification exams, including:

• Certified Public Accountant and Certified Management Accountant
• Certified Financial Planner
• CISCO certification
• CompTIA Security+
• Google Analytics certification
• Associate Professional in Human Resources and SHRM Certified Professional

Consulting and course projects offer many opportunities for you to analyze company fundamentals, apply course concepts and provide real recommendations for a business seeking advice. Consulting projects in leadership and business strategy, marketing, integrated supply management, analytics and many other areas allow you to get experience that makes you stand out in the job search.

Asking valuable questions is a crucial skill that leads to your success as a student and professional. The Haworth College of Business has created a comprehensive program, called FRAME, to help you become skilled at asking valuable questions, which will give you the confidence to be a great team member.

The Robert S. Kaiser Sales, Negotiation and Leadership Lab provides you with the hands-on experience that it takes to become great at sales. With intensive coaching from faculty and fellow students, you improve your performance with practice. The realistic selling scenarios used in the lab allow you to be well-versed in everything from video sales calls to in-person meetings. Selling approach, body language and tone of voice are all recorded so that you can make adjustments. The facility has helped students win national competitions and land jobs at prestigious companies. You can use experiences in the lab to illustrate how you apply feedback to improve selling technique—a critical skill employers seek.

Many business students find opportunities for expanding their knowledge while helping others. Our faculty and staff support these efforts and provide opportunities for you to get involved with service. Dr. Tim Palmer, chair of the Department of Management, regularly incorporates service learning into his courses, often helping a local nonprofit reach an important goal. Students interested in service learning opportunities should contact Dr. Palmer.

Starting Gate is a student business accelerator that gives participants rich and valuable resources to develop their startups. The accelerator is open to all WMU students through a competitive application process where you must demonstrate a promising idea for a product or service, which can be launched within a short period of time.

The Student Managed Investment Fund lets you manage investments using all the tools that experienced investment managers use, including Bloomberg and Morningstar software. Over the last five years, the fund has outperformed the S&P 500 Index by 1.7% annually. But the return on investment goes well beyond any metrics. The course takes place in the Greenleaf Trust Trading Room, which provides an immersive and realistic learning environment. Not only will you get to experience when to buy, sell and hold on investments, you will also participate in analysis and a presentation to the WMU Foundation Board, which gives you advanced training in how to interpret financial information for an audience.

The Student Professional Readiness Series ensures that you will graduate with the top competencies desired by employers, as defined by the National Association of Colleges and Employers.