Last week, the DeVoe School of Business held its annual “Meet the Firms” event on campus, as twenty-eight firms came to recruit accounting and finance students for internships, summer jobs, and other employment opportunities post graduation.
Students from the DeVoe School of Business were able to engage in networking with several representatives from firms that range from all around the Midwest region. Firms such as State Farm, Enterprise Mobility, and Katz, Sapper & Miller all had tables at the events to interact with students and look at their prepared resumes.
Andrew Bunting, a sophomore accounting major, said that, “I thought it would be a great resource for me as an accounting major who is looking to get an internship; this seems like a great opportunity to meet people, so I’m excited that it’s happening.”
Some of the representatives from the firms at the event were IWU alumni who attended the event just like the students there that night.
Megan Schill, a Devoe School of Business 2024 graduate, was one of the many alumni representatives with CBIZ, a financial advisory firm.
“I came here [Meet the Firms] my sophomore and junior year, and that’s actually how I got one of my internships, and now I work full time at the company [CBIZ],” Schill said.
Schill further stated, “What’s really nice about this event is that there are many firms, so it’s really nice to talk to all of them and get to know the firm and what kind of fit you’re looking for in a job.”
Professor Kent Williams, Professor of Business DeVoe Endowed Faculty from the DeVoe Division of Business, shared more about how the Meet the Firms event got started.
“One of the things we [DeVoe School of Business] do is we go to the Grace College Accounting job fair in the fall, along with Trine, St. Francis, Goshen, Bethel, and we all go up there in the fall for an accounting job fair,” Williams said.
Williams further said, “about eight, nine years ago, the firms were asking us, ‘Hey, could we get in front of your students earlier?’ Because that’s always in the fall, that’s a primary recruiting time for account students.”
Williams said he suggested the Devoe School of Business should have the “Meet the Firms” night, and from there the different universities and firms attended.
When asked about the rate of students getting accounting jobs from events such as Meet the Firms or the Grace College job fair, Dr. Williams said, “I can tell you that 95% plus get full-time job offers before they graduate from IWU. They all get internships, many of these internships, and many of these internships and full-time positions will be with the firms that are represented here tonight.”
Another year of the Meet the Firms event reflects the Devoe School of Business’s mission to prepare students for professional success during their time at IWU and after.
