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CareerLAB appoints new consulting coordinator

Tarbox brings tech industry experience to new advising role for business, finance and consulting

The Center for Careers and Life After Brown has appointed Amy Tarbox, previously the manager of the Department of Computer Science’s Industrial Partners Program, as the University’s new coordinator for career fields in business, finance and consulting.

In her new role, Tarbox has transitioned from connecting computer science students with employment and internship opportunities in the tech industry to helping students explore finance and consulting — two of the other top employment sectors for Brown graduates.

Tarbox said her work with the computer science department allowed her to understand what Brown students have to offer to prospective employers and what their “strengths and needs” are.

CareerLAB advisors can all provide general advice to students outside their assigned fields of expertise, Tarbox said, linking her work in finding tech opportunities to her new role. “We’re all generalists” who help “navigate the overwhelming path of finding jobs or internships,” she said.

“Searches (for career advisors) are conducted with great care. We have expertise across a number of broad career fields,” said CareerLAB Director Andrew Simmons. Tarbox is a “great addition to the staff” because she knows how to link firm recruiters with students, Simmons said.

Tarbox highlighted her experience in her newly assigned sectors, adding that she holds a business and consulting degree from Bentley University in Waltham, Mass. Tarbox said she also has experience working with investors, Wall Street executives and public relations at a biotech firm. This job allowed her to bridge the gap between the finance and tech industries by connecting high-level businessmen with science researchers, she said.

Under the IPP program, Tarbox connected students to companies, helped them polish their resumes and held regular office hours, she said. As a career advisor, Tarbox organizes sessions and workshops for students and holds advising appointments.

Some students who worked with Tarbox said they were pleased with the professional guidance she provided them in her previous role with the computer science department.

“Amy was an incredible resource,” said Daniel Hoffman ’15, adding that he worked closely with Tarbox on improving his job-seeking skills. Tarbox made sure students emphasized the parts of their resumes pertinent to the jobs they applied to, Hoffman said. One weakness that Tarbox had while working with the computer science department was her lack of familiarity with some of the technical terms on computer science students’ resumes, Hoffman said.

“She was very much a human resources person” rather than a computer science expert, he added.

Hoffman said Tarbox’s move to the CareerLAB was a positive development for her career because she will be able to expand her professional scope of responsibilities. “She was doing the same thing every year — you don’t grow as much just doing the CS resumes,” he said.

Lauren Clarke, the computer science department’s faculty and student affairs manager, replaced Tarbox as the department’s employment advisor.

Berfu Negiz ’14 said that as an international student, she has difficulty searching for jobs in the United States. Negiz found CareerLAB’s walk-in hours and career advisors to be helpful, especially because she is a psychology and economics major looking for a job in finance or consulting, she said. But Negiz added she has friends in other concentrations, such as architectural studies, who have had to find jobs through their respective departments rather than through the CareerLAB.

Hoffman said he believes the Career Lab focuses more on careers in business, finance and consulting than in many other fields. Jobs related to biology and chemistry can be “very lucrative, but I don’t see anything for them” at the CareerLAB, he said, adding that fields such as journalism and politics also go largely unnoticed.

Young-Rae Kim ’17 said he has been to CareerLAB to seek help in organizing his class schedule. Kim said he wished the CareerLAB provided more resources for first-years and sophomores who want to “get a head start” on the job and internship search. “It’s like they’re telling us to wait until it’s too late,” he added.

Simmons said the CareerLAB’s staff works to connect students with opportunities in any field of work. The advisers are the “first stop” where students can go to be referred to other resources, Simmons said.

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