{"id":204722,"date":"2023-09-15T11:11:48","date_gmt":"2023-09-15T15:11:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=204722"},"modified":"2023-09-15T11:11:48","modified_gmt":"2023-09-15T15:11:48","slug":"business-career-expo-2023-draws-hundreds-of-students-reps-from-top-corporations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2023\/09\/business-career-expo-2023-draws-hundreds-of-students-reps-from-top-corporations\/","title":{"rendered":"Business Career Expo 2023 Draws Hundreds of Students, Reps from Top Corporations"},"content":{"rendered":"

Anna Zerbinati<\/strong>, a senior majoring in financial management, had a strategy for impressing corporate recruiters at the School of Business Career Expo on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve done my research on the companies and I know what jobs they have available. I want to show them how much I want to work there,\u2019\u2019 Zerbinati said. She hoped her enthusiasm, attention to detail, and fluency in Portuguese would help her make a strong impression.<\/p>\n

Dressed in a red blouse, an intentional choice, she stood out in a sea of gray and black professional attire. \u201cI know it is competitive hiring market,\u2019\u2019 she said, surrounded by her UConn peers. \u201cBut it\u2019s nothing we can\u2019t get over.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

The Business Career Expo drew hundreds of students to the Student Union Ballroom. All were eager to make connections and learn about full-time jobs, internships and other opportunities.<\/p>\n

More than 50 employers attended the event, including sponsors Cigna, Corbin Advisors, Otis Elevator, Henkel, The Hartford Financial, and Aldi as well as other top firms such as Natwest, and Point72.<\/p>\n

“They are the Future of Successful Companies”<\/h3>\n

Kathy Hendrickson<\/strong>, director of the Business Career Development Office, said she and her team were excited to have a strong employer presence on campus. Research shows that personal interactions are critical to pairing students and potential employers.<\/p>\n

Career advisers had equipped students with targeted employer information and prepared students to quickly highlight their professional skills and experiences. She said the energy at the event was unmatched. This year\u2019s event was the most well-attended in its nine-year history, despite torrential rain.<\/p>\n

\u201cAdaptability, innovation and curiosity helped our students to become resilient during the last few years,\u2019\u2019 she said \u201cOur students are ready for the challenges of today\u2019s workforce and proved to our top employers that they are the future of successful companies.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

Connection Led to Internship<\/h3>\n

Julia Ghagare<\/strong> attended the Expo last year, as a freshman, and made a connection that led to an internship at Otis, working in sales in the Boston office. The experience was invaluable, she said. <\/p>\n

Ghagare, a marketing major, returned to the Expo on Wednesday, seeking a new experience in marketing of consumer goods. She was eager to meet the people from Synchrony and Henkel and is also reaching out to P&G and Unilever. <\/p>\n

\u201cMy approach is to be truly engaged in conversation. I always have questions ready to ask,\u2019\u2019 she said. She is deeply interested in sustainability and would welcome the chance to explore how companies can creatively package their goods with minimal waste.<\/p>\n

Recent Alum Offers Advice for Job Searchers<\/h3>\n

Alumna Chloe Sainsbury \u201922<\/strong>, who is in the rotational leadership program at Synchrony Financial, was excited to be back on campus and meeting students. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m having a good time and enjoying giving back,\u2019\u2019 she said. \u201cIf I can offer advice, as someone who graduated recently, I\u2019m happy to do so. I know this job-search process all too well and remember the stress. I hope to offer some comfort to job seekers.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

Sainsbury said as she is seeking people who are excited about analytics, who ask good questions, and seek to make a genuine connection. \u201cI\u2019m a bubbly person and I like bubbly people, too,\u2019\u2019 she said. <\/p>\n

Synchrony\u2019s leadership rotation program offers formal mentoring, social opportunities, and skill development, and has made the transition from student to professional much easier, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll the young employees are learning together,\u2019\u2019 she said. \u201cI\u2019m so happy with this company and with this program, so I can speak about my personal experience.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

Recruiters Eager to Promote Workplaces<\/h3>\n

UConn alumnus William Youngstrom ’20<\/strong>, an associate at Natwest, said he was impressed by the student interest and the depth of the questions they asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re looking for students who are engaging and can hold a conversation, who have taken time to research our company and what we do,\u2019\u2019 said Youngstrom, who earned his degree in economics at UConn. \u201cWe want people who are eager to learn, excited to get a foot in the door, and focused on providing value for the company.\u2019\u2019 <\/p>\n

Nearby, alumnus Joseph Notaro \u201916 MBA<\/strong>, director of Interest Rate Sales at Natwest, said he would have appreciated having that opportunity to meet people in finance when he was an undergraduate and was glad to assist those following in his footsteps. <\/p>\n

Marija Kojcinovic<\/strong>, regional credit manager at Henkel, said the company is seeking well-prepared students with high GPAs, who have a \u2018can do\u2019 attitude and are eager to learn. The company was looking to meet graduate students for full-time positions and undergrads who are interested in summer internships.<\/p>\n

And while the students were eager to make an impression, the corporations were equally excited to promote their businesses as a great place to work.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are an international company and working here involves talking to people around the world,\u2019\u2019 Kojcinovic said. \u201cHenkel is a company where the employees are friendly, a company with diverse teams, and a great place for young people to find opportunities to learn and grow in their profession.\u2019\u2019 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

More than 50 employers attended the event, including sponsors Cigna, Corbin Advisors, Otis Elevator, Henkel, The Hartford Financial, and Aldi as well as other top firms such as Natwest, and Point72.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121,"featured_media":204723,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1862],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[2105],"class_list":["post-204722","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-busn"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-14 05:31:31","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204722","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/121"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=204722"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204722\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":204724,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204722\/revisions\/204724"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/204723"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=204722"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=204722"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=204722"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=204722"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=204722"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}