Business career fair fills Cashion

West des Moines Senior Elizabeth Lowe listens to Mauricio Padillatalk about Liberty Mutual at the Marketing and Sales Career Fair – 5th floor of Cashion November 14, 2012.
Dana Dewhirst | Lariat Photographer

By Mark Tarro
Contributor

Baylor’s fall marketing and professional selling career fair featured roughly 30 companies Wednesday, in the Blume Conference Center in the Hankamer School of Business.
The event, sponsored by Automatic Data Processing (ADP), gave students the opportunity to network with corporate representatives from around the country looking to fill job and internship positions in marketing and sales. Students gained exposure to top companies, including 11 in the Fortune 500 and two in the Fortune 100.

More than 200 students browsed company booths and shared their experience and career goals.

“The career fair was very informative and got me excited about figuring out my internship for next summer,” junior Arlington Heights, Ill., junior Brittany Verhulst said. “I even set up a few interviews for the end of the week with a number of the companies I researched.”

Students were not just involved as career fair participants, though. A number of senior professional selling majors helped staff the tables of companies they interned or have accepted full-time employment with.
There was even a ProSales alumni presence at the event. May 2012 graduate Colyn Squires now works for Concentra and represented her company at the fair.

“It was so exciting to be back and to see the new students in marketing and professional selling,” Squires said. “I loved having the opportunity to share my experience and how the professional selling program prepared me for my role with Concentra.”

While some seniors informed fellow students about different companies, Dallas senior Robert Howard and Fort Worth senior Warren Burt, helped organize the event and ensured everything ran smoothly throughout the evening.
“We’re all at Baylor to get ready for our next steps in life and its humbling to be a part of the team that brings companies and networking opportunities to campus,” Howard said.

The event did indeed run smoothly, as students navigated through the fair with ease and had the opportunity to talk with a variety of companies. Event sponsor ADP shared a wealth of information on their company and provided unique giveaways for fair attendees.

“The quality of talent and level of preparation at Baylor is amazing. There is little disparity between the first and last in the class which is so rare to see,” vice president of sales for DFW with ADP, said Trent Huizar said. “We hired two Baylor interns this past summer and hope to continue building our relationship with the university,” he said. The Center for Professional Selling provides training and individualized coaching from experts in sales to professional selling majors.

These students are provided access to a variety of networking, internship and job opportunities through the program and upon graduation will have practical experience combined with professional instruction setting them up for success in sales careers. For more information about the Center for Professional Selling, visit https://www.baylor.edu/business/selling/.