Recruiters scout students
By Marcus Whitman, Contributing Writer
Photo Courtesy of Gorfine, Shiller, and Gardyn, P.A.
This past Friday, the Accounting Open House and CBE Career Ready Day took place in the West Village Commons ballrooms.
These events were held with the intent to recruit graduating seniors into open positions within their fields, and juniors looked for internship positions for the late spring and summer.
Chidubem Oparaoji, a senior and finance major at Towson, said he stopped by the events because of his major, and said that he looks at “finance and accounting as brother and sister.”
“I am hoping to gain an internship that will hopefully lead to a full time job upon graduation,” Oparaoji said.
Northwestern Mutual’s Amber Clontz, the Director of Development and talent acquisition, discussed what she looks for in potential candidates.
“We look for people with leadership qualities, ambitious, and hardworking,” Clontz said. “As well as those who are self-motivating.”
Clontz also discussed the different ways Northwestern Mutual finds the candidates they pick, including using sites like LinkedIn, and being involved with schools “and career fairs, as well as referrals.”
Clontz then shared why Towson University is a place of interest.
“Our offices are close to Towson University, and Towson has a great student body that encompasses what we are looking for,” Clontz said. “Towson does a great job focusing on the needs of the students. It does a great job helping them meet their needs.”
TEKsystems representatives also gave insight into finding candidates. Casey Woodburn, a Digital Development Recruiter, Sara Ratti, a technical recruiter, and Shannon Harney, a government IT recruiter, said that what they look for in a candidate varies upon the requirements of the position they’re hiring for.
“Sales and marketing experience, and leadership ability, extracurriculars and well-rounded candidates,” they said. “We go to career fairs like this, Universities, and Colleges. Referrals by people on the inside, and we have internal recruiters.”
The three representatives said that they came to Towson University for recruiting because they use a lot “of alumni to help recruit because of how familiar we are with the area, and we can relate better to students.”
While at the events, some of the firms shared more insight into why they like to use Towson University for recruiting, and why they admire the school. Many agreed that education is important, but not the biggest part recruitment. It also depends on intangible abilities, like communication, soft skills and leadership.
They also like how well rounded the students can be from clubs, sports and other extracurricular activities as well as how students can learn things not just in class but outside of it too.
Meghan Behm, a Coordinator of Academic and Career Services in the College of Business and Economics, discussed exactly what it takes to plan events like these.
“The main thing is to reach out to the recruiters,” Behm said. “Finding out who among employers wants to come. Logistics of getting word out to students of CBE. Getting food and parking logistics for employers.”
Behm also said that events such as the Accounting Open House and CBE Career Ready Day are planned out about one year in advance to allow for “booking rooms and sending out save the dates, six months in advance book employers.”
“Normally [we] try and separate out the events, but because the Union is under construction, we had limited space,” said Behm. “So, for the Accounting Fair, we got employers focused on accounting majors. Mostly public accounting firms. As well those who prepare individuals for [the Certified Public Accountant] exam.”
Behm also explained how they pick locations.
“Usually depends on how many people are expected. We coordinate with Events and Conference Services E.C.S. To find the right locations and try and stick with the same locations for similar events.”
Oparaoji described the event as successful.
“It was good overall,” Oparaoji said. “And successful to speak with many different employers even though my major was quite different from what many were looking for.”
