There are plenty of business cards and resume requests but not many suits and skirts here at the third annual Recruiter Ski Days.
Graduate business students from Brigham Young University and the University of Utah met with recruiters from several local and national companies at the Little Cottonwood Canyon resort Monday. The unique event, which will be presented to a nationwide audience at a conference later this year, brings potential employees and employers together in a setting unlike most job interviews."I made some good contacts and it's great powder," said David Curtis, an MBA student at BYU.
At first, job hunting and skiing may seem incompatible. Usually, students who ski on weekdays are considered irresponsible for skipping school. And what kind of company would hire a ski bum, anyway?
Although it may sound strange, hitting the slopes and looking for jobs actually can be done at the same time. In fact, both students and corporate recruiters say the format is much more conducive to successfully getting to know each other than the dry encounters at sometimes boring job fairs.
"I talked to a couple of people this morning and the possibilities are pretty good," said U. student Steve Carlston. "There are some companies you're interested in and others you're not."
Recruiter Ski Days was dreamed up by Bill Brady, director of career services for BYU's Marriott School of Management. Last year, the program helped several students gain internships or jobs. The idea has proven successful enough that Brady has been invited to describe it at a conference of the National Association of Colleges and Employers later this year.
"We know that connections are made," Brady said. "I realized that riding up on a chairlift, I could just about learn somebody's life story."
While the program was devised to help recruiters find students they would like to hire, the students appeared to be the aggressors Monday. Students asked dozens of questions of representatives from companies ranging from billion-dollar, worldwide investment firms to local companies with a handful of employees.
The recruiters had little to do other than sit back and rake in the resumes. In fact, some were so busy talking with students that they hardly had time to enjoy several inches of fresh powder that fell Monday. But the students were far from begging for work; in fact, the economic tide seems to have turned in their favor.
"The market for MBA students is unusually strong this year," said Sheila Steiner, director of MBA career services at the U.'s David Eccles School of Business. "Instead of a number of students competing for a few jobs, there are companies competing for the students."
Indeed, several recruiters made desperate pleas for anyone with backgrounds in computer science. Others said the finance jobs they are seeking to fill won't necessarily be filled by finance graduates but by those who can learn what they need to once on the job.
"We're looking for undergrads and graduate students to go into the Accounting and Financial Development internship program," said Greg Doyle of Texas-based Electronic Data Systems. "There are also opportunities for direct hires into one of the units (of the company)."
Besides Electronic Data Systems, companies participating Monday included American Stores, which sent several representatives from its new corporate headquarters in Salt Lake City; investment giant Lehman Bros., which dispatched a recruiter from New York; local companies Century Financial and Sterling Financial; and Utah Technology Finance Corp., a quasi-state agency.
A handful of recruiters from other companies were scheduled for Tuesday as well.