Category Archives: Events

Events that are happening around and with the MPA

Events, Recruiting

Recruiting: Week Two

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Middle Market Firms and Big Four Firms

During your recruiting semester as an MPA you will face the decision concerning what company(s) you want to apply for. The best way to figure this out is to attend all the events and information sessions that these companies hold for you. I know this is repetitive and we probably have been told a million times to “attend all the events” and “gather as much information as you can”. However, it has become clear to me this semester that it really is the best way to make a knowledgeable decision about which type of company(s) will be the best fit for you. For example,  anyone interested in public accounting has to decide which firm size/type fits you.

A brief word of advice, try to not silo yourself into just the big four or just middle market firms. Really make the effort to go into recruiting open-minded. Try to give ALL of the firms a chance.

The middle market firms BDO and UHY held their own event the second week of school to give students information on why they are also excellent companies. I was very surprised to see the small turn out of MPA students at this event. There was around less than half of the students at the middle market firms’ info sessions than there were at the big four info sessions. The BDO/UHY event was really nice with catered food following their informative presentations. I learned a lot of new things about these companies and the differences between middle market firms and the big four firms that I had not known before attending their event. I also gained some more exposure talking with partners and recruiters, which can only help me in the long run. And hey, practice makes perfect, right?

Your major takeaway from this post: Be open-minded during recruiting. You might regret it later if you look back and realize you limited yourself in your choices. I actually gained a lot of perspective from attending BOTH the middle market and big four info sessions. In turn, I feel more confident in my choices and in my ability to talk with recruiters. All of these companies really are great choices. Let’s face the hard part though, you will have to choose just one of these firms eventually. The ultimate goal during recruiting is to ensure your own happiness with whatever choice you  make for your internship/potential career. You can only do this by putting yourself out there and attending all the events set out for you.

Click here to read Week 3 of April’s MPA recruiting experience.

Career, Events, Recruiting, Uncategorized

Recruiting: Week One

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Welcome back everyone! We all know that syllabus week does not mark the beginning of the semester. It’s the second week of classes now, so school is officially back in session! Being in my second semester of MPA, I already hit the ground running by finishing up my syllabus week with two important recruiting events last Thursday and Friday. The two events were Meet the Firms, which took place on Thursday evening, followed the next morning by Career Day.

MPA Meet the Firms: Not just your normal job fair.

Meet the Firms

This event was basically a career fair exclusively for MPAs. I know that we all fear the term “career fair” but let me just tell you that Meet the Firms is NOTHING like your average career fair. For one, this event is located on the top floor of the DKR Stadium with glass walls overlooking the stadium and downtown Austin at night. There is catered food and drinks and the set up as a whole is extremely nice. That is all fine and dandy, but let’s be honest, what we are all more concerned about is the actual recruiting and networking aspect of the career fair. Meet the Firms goes beyond  your normal expectations in this area as well. You know when you go to the normal career fairs and you feel like there are a million students and only a handful of firms? Well flip that scenario and that’s what Meet the Firms is like. The student to recruiter ratio is great, so you are not nervously waiting in line for your turn to talk next. You can browse tables and find an open recruiter to talk to in the mean time until another becomes available. When you are going to the tables of each firm, you already feel welcomed. The recruiters are very inviting and friendly. Also, most of the time they lead the conversation for you. This does not mean you do not need to prepare, it just means you can feel relaxed in your conversation!

Career Day

On Friday morning, the Big Four firms (PwC, Deloitte, EY, KPMG) host Career Day. The day consists of each firm giving a small info session about their company followed by a short networking opportunity. These sessions are actually helpful in getting to know the culture of each firm by listening to what each has to say and by talking with their recruiters after the presentations. The environment was very relaxed and each firm had a gift for you! What career event have you attended where each company brought you a gift bag?! Exactly! This event was not only extremely helpful in getting you acclimated with the Big Four firms, it was also really fun!

Don’t skip any recruiting events in your recruiting semester as an MPA because you will be missing out on a lot of great times, nice people, and solid opportunities!

Read more about the MPA recruiting experience in the Recruiting: Week Two.

Brooks, Events, Feature, Student Life

Live Music Capital of the World

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austin city music header Now that recruiting is out of the way and one semester under my belt, I feel like I have some extra breathing room to enjoy more of the fun that Austin has to offer. My biggest new year’s resolution is to see more live music, and what better place to enable my success than the Live Music Capital of the World? Being a musician, it wouldn’t hurt to get the chance to perform some of that live music as well.

As I mentioned in a previous post, I’ve had the chance to see a few acts already, but I still have some places on my hit list:

Victory Grill: I had the chance after our first day back of the spring semester to check out Victory Grill’s weekly Monday night blues jam. A few of us MPAs went, and have already made plans to go back. It felt like a neighborhood bar for regulars to come and play sweet blues music, taking turns on the stage to wring out their troubles.

Red River: Not a single venue, but a strip of clubs, bars, and music venues. Stubb’s BBQ and Mohawk regularly feature relatively well-known touring artists in addition to some of the local greats. Then there are several smaller venues and bars clustered around that frequently host live music.

Stubbs-1

The Legendary White Swan: This one, another neighborhood bar, has been on my list for a while, but I haven’t made it down there yet. They host a variety of local artists, from blues to punk to roots country.

Sahara Lounge: Another venue that recently appeared on my radar, the Sahara Lounge is the most eclectic on the list. The variety of music that can be found here includes Indie, African, Blues, Rock, Country, Swing, Brazilian, and Funk.

Any takers?  Any other venues I need to check out?

Austin, Brooks, Events, Feature, Student Life

Next Stop… More Barbecue

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Back on the Central-Texas Barbecue Trail, my next stop was the world-famous Franklin BBQ. A relative newcomer to the barbecue scene compared to the longstanding Salt Lick, Aaron Franklin opened up shop in 2009 in a parking lot in East Austin. It wasn’t long before it was being hailed as the best barbecue in central Texas, and as I’ve related in my other posts that’s really saying something!

So close to BBQ!

After talking about going all semester, a group of us MPAs decided to go on the Saturday before Thanksgiving since there was not a lot going on school-wise during that short week before Thanksgiving. Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate. In what was probably the worst weather we will experience here in Austin, we set out to Franklin at about 10:00am.

Upon arrival, we immediately recognized that our theory of “since the weather is so bad, there won’t be that many people waiting,” was not only shared by many others, but also was most definitely incorrect. Even with a temperature in the 30s with light rain sprinkling randomly, there was a line winding through the parking lot almost to the next block. A hostess came through the line to ask what we were going to order and she let us know that the estimated time of arrival at the front of the line was about 1:00pm.

I’m gonna eat that right there 🙂

If you make it to Franklin BBQ, make sure you bring friends because you won’t want to just order a sandwich. You can order by the pound, and after a three hour wait you would have wasted your time to only get a personal plate. There were six of us, so we ordered 4 pounds of brisket, 2 racks of pork ribs, and 1 pound of sausage.

I’m not sure if it was the wait or if I was just happy to be inside out of the horrible weather, but as we started to feast on the smorgasbord of barbecue, we all knew that it was worth it. The brisket was far superior to anything else I have tried in Texas, and the sausage was incredible. There were several options for sauce on the table, and they liberally handed out white sandwich bread that we could use as a vehicle for transporting the barbecue to our stomachs. All in all, Franklin BBQ did not disappoint even with the unusually long wait – if you’re in Austin, you’ll have to make time for Franklin in addition to Salt Lick!

Austin, Events, Student Life

Bon Qui Qui Visits Austin

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Welcome to King Burger where you can have it your way but don’t get crazy!

If you’re familiar with this snippet from a Mad TV comedy clip, then you’d be excited to know that the laugh out loud Bon Qui Qui visited Austin over the weekend. With all the hustle and bustle on campus, a comic relief is always a very welcome invitation. This past Saturday, my favorite comedienne Anjelah Johnson performed at the iconic Paramount Theater to a full house. From the opening act to the very last second she was on stage, the show was just hilarious and purely entertaining. I sure got an ab workout from all the laughter, which was a nice bonus.

I went to the show with my good friend Ruth. What’s so funny is that we didn’t even know about it until that Saturday morning. But as dedicated fans, we decided to go anyway and see the girl who has made us laugh to tears with her YouTube videos. This is another reason why Austin is such a fabulous place to live. It is a small city with a big name that it attract stars like Anjelah Johnson.. There were three back-to-back shows and I believe all of them were sold out.

With perfect timing and clean jokes, Anj (’cause we’re close) did a fabulous job of entertaining the audience! I could have stayed for a later show, but figured I’ll give other people a chance. It’s experiences like these that remind me that some things really are priceless. As I sat there and listened to the chorus of laughter, I forgot about the stresses of school and recruiting and just enjoyed the fun.

It was a wonderful experience and made for a great Saturday night. It was just what I needed as two exams, a final, and a few interviews come. I feel like I’ve gained my perspective back and I can go through all these with a new sense of excitement. All work and no play make a person go mad. So before that happened, I’m glad to have taken my mind of off school for a little bit. Thanks Anjelah!