Courtney Crosby and Kelly Ayers are your MPA Peer Career Consultants.  They’ve successfully navigated the MPA recruiting process and want to help you do the same.  Check out their posts here each week for valuable recruiting tips.

standoutKelly described recruiting events last week and mentioned several fun events that she attended herself as a third-year, such as a game night and a cooking class. As you start receiving invitations for similar events, keep in mind that the most important part of any outing is the networking. You may find yourself playing blackjack, painting a picture, or enjoying a day at the spa with your recruiters, but the priority is always to make a good impression. Here are some strategies you can use to stand out among your peers:

  • Build rapport: When you are with your friends and family, do you like to talk about your accounting coursework 100% of the time? Probably not. Recruiters and representatives are happy to talk about the company and their work, but they also enjoy having conversations that are not focused on accounting. When you are getting to know a company employee, ask them about themselves – learn about their background, their hobbies, their favorite restaurant in City XYZ, etc. This will help you build a relationship with that individual, which will be beneficial to you in the future.
  • Do your research: You have already done company research to get to this point. However, you must keep building on this as you learn more about the firm. Whenever a company employee mentions a client, task, or engagement that he or she worked on, go home and learn more. This will give you great follow up questions for the next event, because it can be difficult to keep making conversation with the same individuals over and over again.
  • Stay professional: After you attend multiple events with the same employees, you will start to feel very comfortable around them and may start to consider them as friends. It is great if you get to this point; however, never forget that they are in a position to influence your hiring decision. You do not want to share anything you would not tell a partner at an interview, i.e. deeply personal matters, wild weekend escapades, or offensive/untasteful jokes. When the employee is back in the office and is discussing interview candidates with upper management, any unprofessional moments may sway their decision.

There is a lot to think about when you attend recruiting events.  However, don’t forget to be yourself, have fun, and gather as much information about the firm as you can. This will help you make an informed decision about where you will best fit in.

Kelly Ayers and I will be offering you words of advice throughout your recruiting journey this semester, so be sure to check out our posts in the newsletter each week! And, as always, if you have any questions about recruiting and want to talk about how to prepare, please feel free to email us at PeerMPA@mccombs.utexas.edu or come to our walk-in hours on Tuesday 11 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. and 3:30 – 5 p.m., Wednesday 9 – 11 a.m., and Thursday 11 a.m. – Noon.. Until next week…good luck with the recruiting events!