Meeting the firms

Every year, the Accounting Club and the Career Center correlate to put on a career fair specifically tailored to accounting majors called “Meet the Firms.”

This year, the fair is being held on Thursday in the Memorial Union. Meet the Firms has been held annually since before 1996. Students from NDSU, Concordia and MSUM are invited to attend the career fair, where many will have the opportunity to get internships, part-time and full-time jobs.

“The event is beneficial to students for many reasons,” said Accounting Club President and graduate student Alec Grande. “As a freshman and sophomore, Meet the Firms serves as an opportunity to learn about the firms that recruit at NDSU and to help gain confidence when it comes time for the career hunt,” he said.

Grande explained that as a junior, senior and graduate student, Meet the Firms becomes even more important. Juniors primarily look for internships, while seniors and graduate students are interested in finding full-time jobs.

The Accounting Club and Career Center work hard to make this event possible. On the day of the event, 45 student volunteers each work for an hour or two to make sure the fair runs smoothly.

“The biggest challenge to planning and carrying out the event is that Meet the Firms happens very early in the semester and as such it can be difficult to be thinking about finding a job when the semester just started,” Grande said.

Grande stressed the importance of being prepared for Meet the Firms. He advised accounting students to dress formally, be prepared with a copy of their resume and be ready to do research and ask questions about different firms.

“My goal for the event,” Grande said, “is for every student that attends Meet the Firms to leave with a feeling that they accomplished what they came there to do, and for those students seeking an internship to be successful in that as well.”