Careers and Recommended Courses for ARBUS Students
The Arts and Business (ARBUS) program is unique to the University of Waterloo, as it allows students to select an area of focus in the Arts faculty, while also providing a fundamental understanding of various business concepts. The learning path offered by this program provides students with the opportunity to pursue a wide variety of jobs in different industries.
Marketing
Marketing roles can vary depending on your title or company, but they typically involve budget management, market research, cross-collaboration, social media management, and more. Depending on your specific interests, you can find yourself in roles like growth marketing, customer relations, PR, or even brand management. Some ARBUS students who completed marketing roles were able to oversee large campaigns, analyze data to better understand customer insights, design newsletters, and wireframe web pages.
Recommended Courses: ARBUS 302 (Principles of Marketing), ARBUS 303 (Marketing Strategy)
Event Planning
Events are an important aspect of every organization, and they could range from leadership team events to company-wide workshops. If you ever find yourself in this type of role, you can be expected to facilitate corporate events, oversee budgets, communicate with vendors, and support the promotion of the event.
Recommended Courses: ARBUS 302 (Principles of Marketing), ENGL 210F (Genres of Business Communication)
Consulting
Management consulting firms are comprised of professionals who provide industry-specific solutions to help businesses become more efficient in their operations. If problem-solving and client-facing roles are of great interest to you, you might want to consider consulting. You could focus on strategy, HR, IT, operations and much more. A great way to prepare for consulting roles is to practice case studies, as many consulting firms are known to conduct case interviews.
Recommended Courses: ARBUS 301 (International Business), BET 580 (Consulting)
Digital Design
There are many kinds of jobs out there for those interested in digital design. You could work in UX/UI design, graphic design, website design, product design and more. A great way to succeed in this role is to develop a strong design portfolio and learn how to use software like Adobe, Canva, and Figma. As a designer, you may create logos, social media templates, and webpages, or even conduct user research in order to create designs that reflect client needs.
Recommended Courses: ENGL 210E (Genres of Technical Communication), BET 350 (Customer Experience Design), DAC 201 (Designing Digital Images and Interaction)
Communications
Communication is one of the most important skills to have in any job industry and is a skill that many of our ARBUS students have used in jobs like HR, business development, and recruitment. A communication-based role may require you to become an expert in written and verbal communication, perform research, facilitate meetings, and familiarize yourself with Microsoft Office tools.
Recommended Courses: SPCOM 204 (Leadership, Teams and Communication), SPCOM 228 (Public Communication)
Banking
A popular misconception about banks is that they are all about finance. And while a large portion of their activities is targeted toward finance, there are many other roles in that industry that can be filled, including but not limited to marketing, fraud, operations, and technology. Regardless of the specific role you’re interested in, there are a few skills you should acquire to succeed in banking. This includes commercial awareness, analytical skills, attention to detail and very importantly, willingness to learn.
Recommended Courses: ARBUS 102 (Accounting Information for Managers), ARBUS 300 (Practical Business Skills)
Looking for a deeper dive into sample careers for ARBUS students? Here’s a list of 15+ jobs and co-ops held by past and current ARBUS students and grads.
