In today’s competitive world, students must separate themselves from others to land jobs and to achieve the goals they set for themselves. One of the best resume builders and ways to separate oneself is to join a co-ed professional academic fraternity. For example, business students at Marshall can join Delta Sigma Pi.

Delta Sigma Pi is the only ‘all business’ fraternity at Marshall University, meaning that all business majors are allowed to join the professional academic fraternity.

Marshall’s chapter started in the early 2000’s and it offers its members opportunities such as networking, community service, social events, leadership skills and many others.

Marshall senior Andrew Aiello is a senior vice-president for Delta Sigma Pi. Aiello joined Delta Sigma Pi as a sophomore at Marshall and attributes much of the business success he has had to joining the professional academic fraternity.

This past summer, Aiello was a field operations intern for the Chick-fil-A Corporate Headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia. This was a 40-plus hour work week position that will help Aiello for future jobs. Aiello said his experience with Delta Sigma Pi was on his resume and an interesting fact he shared was that Truett Cathy, founder and former chairman of Chick-fil-A, was also a member of Delta Sigma Pi.

“How are you going to separate yourself as an undergrad? You have to learn outside of the classroom, and joining a professional academic fraternity does that,” Aiello said. “For business majors, Delta Sigma Pi is something that separates your résumé from others.”

On a personal level, Aiello attributes many skills he has gained to Delta Sigma Pi, like gaining experience in leadership, public speaking, organizing events and sending mass emails. Additionally, he has met people in the fraternity that he said “will be friends forever.”

Dr. Robin McCutcheon is the faculty advisor for Delta Sigma Pi. She echoed the same principle of Aiello in that students must find a way to separate themselves from others. McCutcheon went on to speak as to how crucial this experience is for business students in particular.

“It is even more crucial for business majors to gain valuable experiences that employers will look for on their resumes,” McCutcheon stated. “It’s easier to get the experience while still at the university than to have to learn it through hard knocks in the business world.”

McCutcheon emphasized that experience is key in the business world and that joining a student organization is crucial. For Delta Sigma Pi, she said she knows just how important being a member can be. She said she knows of alumni where being a member “has been, on more than one occasion, the key that opened the door, or got them the job interview.”

How can students “separate themselves” from other students vying for the same job? Getting involved, joining a professional academic fraternity and being active in their field of study would be a great way to separate themselves.

“Don’t pass up an opportunity to join an academic organization. You’d be surprised how much benefit joining one can give you” Aiello said.

Patrick O’Leary can be contacted at [email protected].