Business Mixer Provides Students with Jobs, Internships
Jackson Johnstone
The Arthur L Gilbert College of Business hosted its annual accounting and sales mixer on Sept. 22.
For years the mixer has enabled students to dress up in business clothes and mingle with professionals in their fields. But this year it was conducted digitally utilizing the Zoom platform. Students were asked to sign up for three time slots and depending on which they chose, they were able to interact with 4-8 employers in a breakout room. The event had a large turnout of students and due to the virtual format students were able to have a more in-depth conversation.
Event organizer Leslie Marlatt stated that many of the previous employers were able to come. Marlatt’s role was to work to secure the employers, help students get registered and coordinate the logistics for the event. She notes that many of these local employers have hired MU students for internships and alumni for full-time positions.
In fact, many of the employees that came this year sent MU alumni to recruit more MU students. One of Marlatt’s favorite parts of the event is, as she put it, the development of “relationships with those who come back each year to recruit,” as well as seeing previous Manchester graduates.
Darcy Patton, a junior accounting major was excited that the event was able to continue amid the pandemic and was happy to use the time to connect with the firm that she will be working with over the summer. Patton said that the event is a great place for business students to look for an internship; she was able to find one at last year’s event and encourages underclassmen to do the same.
Mitchell Marks, a senior accounting and finance major, attended this year with hopes to land a spring internship or full-time position after graduation. He was excited that he event was not canceled. “The accounting Mixer is a great networking opportunity and a fantastic way for business students to build connections with potential employers,” he said.
Marks did, however, miss being able to meet everyone in person and distribute his resume to each company. One of the major flaws for him was the downtime during the mixer. He states that they had to take breaks every 15 minutes so that the breakout rooms could get set up. “Usually, students can go table to table meeting different companies as they please, but we were much more limited this year because of the breakout rooms,” he said.
A big takeaway for Marks this year was how technologically adaptable MU is amid the pandemic. He was glad that the event was not disorganized as he worried that it would hinder his ability to make connections. “We made it work,” he said.