Contrary to popular belief, career planning programs aren't limited to pre-professional students at the University.

And while some may think the career services offered for LSA students differ from those offered through pre-professional schools, according to the directors of the University’s Career Center and pre-professional career centers, any perceived differences among the centers can be attributed to the more career-oriented nature of pre-professional majors.

Kerin Borland, director of the Career Center, said students who pursue degrees in disciplines with more career-specific programs like business or engineering may have an easier time finding services that cater to their needs. LSA students often take longer to decide what specific type of career they want to pursue, she said.

“Students who choose to pursue a major that is offered through the Business School are making a two-in-one decision,” Borland said. “With a liberal arts major, they still have to take that two-step process. They have to decide a major, and then they have to decide a career focus.”

Damian Zikakis, director of the Office of Career Development at the Ross School of Business, echoed Borland’s sentiments, saying that LSA students often aren’t on a set career path, while business students are more directed based on their curriculum.

He said that occasionally an LSA student will call the Business School asking to take advantage of services they think are exclusively offered there. However the student often has not met with a career counselor to see what the University’s Career Center has to offer before contacting the Business School, he said.

According to Zikakis, 84.5 percent of undergraduates at the Business School receive at least one job offer before graduation. He said the reason for the high percentage is due to the business skills taught at the school that make students more attractive to specific employers.

“We reach out to companies in which our students have expressed an interest and ask them to consider recruiting at Ross,” Zikakis said. “More often, though, we are contacted by companies that want to begin recruiting at Ross.”

Lauren Rossi, recruiter with PricewaterhouseCoopers — a company that provides assurance, tax and consulting services —, said while some businesses may be searching for a more diverse group of recruits, many students they interview typically have an expertise in business.

“LSA students are more than welcome to become a part of (the company),” Rossi said. “The majority of offerings are for those folks who are an accounting focus, who have that business background.”

Bret Caldwell, representative for the sales and marketing company ZS Associates, said businesses like his have been branching outside of their typical business student recruits.

“We’re looking for smart and quantitatively-oriented people,” Caldwell said. “We absolutely recruit across all majors.”

At both the pre-professional center and University Career Center, students have access to a recruitment database of employers who are coming to campus. The centers also provide opportunities through jobs fairs and presentations and host interview and résumé-writing workshops. Additionally, a major focus of all the centers is emphasizing networking, the directors of the centers said.

Borland said the comparative lack of early career planning by LSA students fuels the false perception that they have fewer career service opportunities. She said liberal arts majors typically don’t seek resources early on in college — something that would help to narrow their career objectives.

“If a student takes advantage of all the things that might lead to deciding (a career), then the steps of them pursuing an opportunity in that area become just as clear as the marketing major,” Borland said.