11th Annual MBA Veterans Career Conference Expo

By Andrew Simpson, MBA Class of 2019

The 11th Annual MBA Veterans Career Conference Expo kicked off this year in Chicago, IL and Smeal was well represented! A record 400 veterans attended the conference to find their place among over 50 prestigious recruiting companies. The MBA Veterans Career Conference and Expo is a unique opportunity for veteran MBA candidates. US military veterans possess unique and high-demand skills valuable to employers in the MBA market. However, few recruiters are trained to understand and interpret the value of the non-traditional experiences military service members bring. The MBA Veterans Career Conference & Expo serves as a gathering point of specialized recruiters for MBA candidate veterans across the country to present their qualifications in an environment tailored to understand and best place these applicants.

To maximize exposure to employers and have access to positions geared toward military backgrounds, participation in the MBA Veterans Career Conference & Expo is an invaluable opportunity for Smeal veterans both for the candidates themselves, and the Smeal College of Business overall.

The Expo begins with an introduction followed immediately by a “speed pitching session” for first-year MBA students looking for internships. First-year MBA students are broken into small groups while company representatives rotate around tables every 5 minutes and ‘pitch’ their MBA level career opportunities. Following the speed pitching session, select companies give formal information sessions to both first and second year candidates. After these information sessions is when the exciting opportunities truly begin. Based on interest during speed pitching or networking before the event, certain companies will extend offers to select candidates to attend a happy hour, private dinner, or post-evening cocktail event. The exclusive events allowed all of us in attendance to get significantly closer to our target companies.

As Day 2 begins, select candidates, again, can attend private breakfasts with recruiters. After breakfast, the typical ‘job fair’ atmosphere comes to light as concurrent interviews take place on site. The on-site job interviews are really where the MBA Veterans Career Conference & Expo shines. Finding time in the day to align all the interviews becomes the hardest part of the conference! With how packed our schedules were, there wasn’t a moment when all of us Smeal veterans could get together on an interview day. Regardless, we all had the opportunity to meet with unique recruiters for exciting jobs that closely aligned with our skill sets and aren’t typically found recruiting around Smeal. The MBA Veterans Career Conference and Expo was certainly a memorable experience and an invaluable opportunity for Smeal veterans.