Accounting and finance students at Kennesaw State University engaged with more than 50 firms at the Accounting and Finance Career Fair on Sept. 14 at the KSU Center.
The Department of Career Planning and Development organized the career fair. The DCPD has hosted the fair since 2008 to accommodate the vast amount of firms and accounting departments who want to hire students.
Seniors and graduate students attended the event in formal attire, networking with recruiters from elite firms. They discussed credentials, internships and part-time and full-time opportunities.
“A lot of the recruiters actually have alumni name tags on their badges,” said Lori Trahan, the associate director of Operations, Assessment and Employer Relations for the DCPD. “So they’re successful, and the firms send them back here because they want to say, ‘Hey, come work for us!’”
The DCPD sends invitations to organizations like the Drug Enforcement Administration, E-Trade, Edward Jones, Equifax and much more, all of whom were in attendance this year. Then the employers that want to come register with the DCPD online and wait for approval. Once the organizations have paid their fee, they receive instructions where and when to show up.
The fair is the first step in the recruiting process for accounting majors and those interested in working for Certified Public Accounting firms. The next step is on-campus recruiting.
“Most of our employers here come back on campus the next days and weeks, conduct interviews and hire our students,” said Ryan Whitfield, the assistant director of Employer Relations. “We average about 150-plus interviews between the end of this fair and the end of October, just for accounting majors alone.”
The DCPD has hosted career fairs successfully at KSU for 30 years, allowing students to network with multiple businesses and organizations all in the same room.
“This fair is for them! What we do is for them!” Whitfield said. “These employers that seek out to hire are here for them.”
