Fraternity networking

In 1988, after graduating from IU with a degree in biology, Boyd Zoccola traveled to Europe with some of his Sigma Chi fraternity brothers. Some of the members were involved with industrial real estate, and their dealings piqued his interest in the field. Zoccola described the trip as "just a boondoggle to see Europe" but said it changed his career path.\nNot every fraternity member thinks about it when he signs his bids, but membership can provide career opportunities after college. \n"(Career opportunities) didn't cross my mind (when deciding to pledge)," Zoccola said. "It was a really good group of guys, and it just felt like the right thing to do."\nMany fraternities keep alumni books at their chapter residences, and alumni advisers help students in fraternities find internships. Zoccola said some Sigma Chi members make hundreds of cold calls to numbers they find in the alumni book during their job searches. But those are not the only avenues for job-searching that membership in a fraternity can provide. \nOne of Zoccola's pledge brothers in the real estate business introduced him to his current employer, Hokanson Co. Inc. \nSigma Chi has a lot of support from the Indianapolis business community, Zoccola said, which he said has been helpful in the commercial real estate business. \n"(Fraternal brotherhood is) one more thing you can have in common with somebody across the table who you do business with," Zoccola said. "We don't do business based on brotherhood, but if it came down to 50-50, that could tip the scales in favor of the brother."\nBeta Theta Pi has the most CEO's of Fortune 500 companies, according to Forbes.com, with 11. \nSigma Chi is tied for second with nine.\nSophomore Kyle Dietz just became a Beta brother this year. He is a business major and Kelley scholar and said eight of the 12 pledges in his class are also business majors. Last summer he attended the Beta Theta Pi annual convention in Toronto. Dietz applied to be the risk manager for IU's chapter, and to hold that position in the fraternity, you must attend the convention, he said. Dietz met senator Richard Lugar and other successful alumni but said he was somewhat disappointed with the limits of the convention.\n"That was one of my beefs with the whole convention," Dietz said. "You got to meet a lot of people (alumni) but didn't have enough time to make a great impression."\nWhen joining Beta, Dietz said he considered that it could provide career opportunities after college. But it's not a guarantee of success by any means, he said.\nIn the few months that he has been a member, Dietz said he has received four or five e-mails from alumni about internships at the companies where they work. \n"They definitely inform you and try to help you along," Dietz said, adding that Beta alumni also hold career fairs.\nDietz said Beta's chapter advisers are men who are usually successful business owners and having direct contact with them has "been a plus."\nZoccola said he thinks coming through the same types of programs can give potential business partners some reasonable expectation that the brother in question will probably be a good person. \n"You get a similar growing and learning experience in a fraternity," Zoccola said.