Montana State students build career connections at Jabs Networking Night

BOZEMAN - More than 200 students and local employers gathered in Montana State University's Jabs Hall on Tuesday for the spring Jabs Networking Night, an annual event for Bobcats to pitch themselves and find career opportunities in fields such as accounting, marketing and hospitality.

The event, hosted by MSU's Jake Jabs College of Business and Entrepreneurship and the college's Bracken Center, came a few weeks after the Jabs Career Symposium and overlapped with MSU's larger spring career fair.

The Jabs event invited employers with business-specific offerings. Close to 45 companies had representatives at the networking night, including Big Sky Resort, the Bozeman Daily Chronicle, the Kimpton Armory Hotel, Xanterra Travel Collection, Stockman Bank and many others.

The casual format allowed students to float between tables labeled with each company name and have one-on-one conversations with potential employers.

"We hope our students saw the breadth of meaningful careers available in Montana and the region," said Toby Blake, director of the Bracken Center and organizer of the event. "At the same time, we hope employers got to know our students and faculty better on a personal level."

Students practiced their communication skills at the event, Blake said, including introducing themselves, asking good questions and listening. The Bracken Center, which is available to help MSU business students with career readiness, worked with students to help them come up with an introduction and simple questions to ask employers.

For many first- and second-year students, it was the first time they had spoken one-on-one with potential employers, Blake said. For upper-division students, it was a chance to move from "I'm looking" to concrete job leads and interviews.

Hunter Swenson, a Jabs student ambassador who is majoring in business marketing and minoring in entrepreneurship, helped organize the networking night. She is exploring opportunities in sports marketing following her graduation this spring. But at the event, she was focused on helping other students connect with employers based on their interests.

"There really is something here for everyone," Swenson said, acknowledging the diversity of employers and also the tables set up with information about MSU master's degree programs.

She added that it was understandable some students were nervous to put themselves out there, but emphasized they only invited people who are excited to employ MSU students.

Indeed, representatives from top accounting firm Eide Bailly traveled from Billings to interface with students. Scott Nelson, partner and MSU finance graduate from 1997, said the event is helpful for meeting and recruiting students for future internships. Several of the firm's summer interns have been Bobcats, added senior audit associate Zach Amos, who is also an MSU alum. They look for candidates with a willingness to learn and work hard for long hours, and someone who is good at time management - skills that MSU seems to instill in their students well, he said.

Michael Courts, a sophomore from Columbus majoring in management and minoring in finance, came to the event with a folder of his updated resumes to hand out to employers. He was seeking to get his name out there and meet people so employers would keep him in mind for future opportunities.

Courts is still unsure what he wants to be his long-term career, and part of his motivation for coming to the networking night was to explore his options.

"I just wanted to see what was out there for me," Courts said.

Mollie Bryan, general manager for The Element Hotel in downtown Bozeman, said she always loves hiring Bobcats. She was at the event to make connections with students interested in future positions at the hotel or its restaurant, the Carlisle. MSU interns she has hired are always successful, Bryan said, noting one individual who started as an intern and quickly climbed the ladder to become a manager.

Blake said the business college is especially excited about expanding opportunities in hospitality and service leadership for students, given the new Hospitality Management program launched this fall.

"We want to make Jabs the first place that employers look for outstanding undergraduate business talent, and to make the Bracken Center the default starting point for students who want to explore and launch their careers," Blake said.