Recently 65 Accounting majors spent the evening mingling with professionals in their field at the annual Meet The Accountants gathering. The purpose of the affair, which was held on November 14, is to allow students to get to know people employed in Accounting, ask questions, and network. Ten firms and 73 students were in attendance. It is a joint effort between Career Services and the College of Business.
“Meet the Accountants is a specialty Career Services event that allows accounting firms to meet and match with accounting students. Unlike the broader Career Fair, the accounting firms need specific skills in their interns and new hires. While all firms will conduct on-the-job training, the accounting firms need students who have obtained intermediate level or higher accounting skills,” says Dr. Anne Macy, Director of Amarillo National Bank School of Accounting, Economics, and Finance and Edwards Professor of Finance.
Attendance was spread across all levels of student classifications, with the bulk being Juniors, Seniors, or Master’s students. The ten accounting firms were very representative of the Amarillo market, and included well-known firms such as Stewart, Martin, Dudley, & Webb, P.C., Brown, Graham & Company, P.C., and Bolinger, Segars, Gilbert & Moss, L.L.P. “Many of the firms bring alumni from prior Meet the Firms events. Thus, the event becomes an alumni event,” Macy reflects.
The event has two parts, as Macy describes. “In the first part, students are divided into groups. Every four minutes they rotate to a new table and meet that firm. The firm has four minutes to present what they are seeking and other information. The students can ask questions.”
In the second part, the buffet line opens for hearty hors-d’oeuvres. Accountants and students mingle and network. “Students return to the various tables and ask individualized questions, hand over their resumes, or make appointments for further discussions,” she mentions.
“The entire point of the event is to match students with employers. Thus, all the firms are looking for interns or employees. This event is where most of the matching occurs,” she continues. “A secondary value of the event is that students get to see the personalities of the firms and the specialties of the firms. The culture of the firms is more evident at this event then in the larger Career Fair.”
Macy is firm in her advice that Accounting students engage with this event. “I think it is important for students to attend the event prior to the years that they will look for internships and employment. They can see the process, but they also get to meet the firms in a less stressful environment.”
Accounting is unique among majors in the College of Business, because it is the only discipline with an event of this nature, this due in large part to it being a very specific educational track. “Meet the Accountants works because the employers want specific skills and students have those specific skills so all that is needed is the match,” she concludes.