From time to time, AU’s Hull College of Business brings in leaders from area companies called the “Business Showcase”. This Thursday, it’s ADP’s turn.
The Dean of the School shares how it works and how business students use this as a launching point.
“The employer typically brings anywhere from three to five people from their company. You know, the ideal scenario is they bring somebody that’s one or two years out from college, maybe an HR manager, and then maybe more of a senior executive.
So, they provide the students with a bit of history about the company, who they are, and what they do. But then also, it’s an opportunity to highlight where they have job openings, and so they can talk about internship opportunities. And a lot of employers will also take the time and have a brief segment on something that they really look for in students.
It may be a particular skill set. It may be a technical skill set, just you know what it is that they’re looking for among the students. And then after the event is over, we host a networking opportunity, and so the students get the opportunity to actually ask questions.
It’s really neat when they can bring a fairly recent college graduate, because then they can talk about how just two years ago, they were sitting in your seat in that classroom.
We’ve had a lot of employers, I mean, a lot of the local accounting firms, you know.
We’ve had ADP and Textron– some of the bigger ones that a lot of our students can immediately recognize, but even among some of the smaller businesses that come, students really learn a lot about the business, and they learn a lot about how they may see themselves contributing.
And it really opens up students’ eyes in terms of, I’m a business major. I’m getting my business degree. I have this skill set now, where do I want to fit in? Where do I want to work?
And it’s really interesting to see students come away and think about maybe a smaller business, or they may be interested in marketing, and they realize that an accounting firm needs marketing people, and so it really opens up their eyes.
