March 12, 2014

By Carrie Wojcik

The UW-Whitewater chapter of the American Marketing Association had the opportunity to host an event on March 5 that allowed students to network with companies for jobs and internships.

Senior Jon Michaels and junior Zach Selden organized the event which is a part of the AMA certificate program.

“The certificate program offers students the opportunity to explore various business topics from different companies,” Michaels said. “We try to target marketing, finance, sales, and we try to touch on different majors. We plan in the future to introduce advertising as well.”

The certificate last offered was the B2B certificate.

At these events, groups of students rotate with the different companies. The companies included in the event were J.J. Keller, Hormel Foods and TTI.

Each company was either offering jobs or internships to students. Selden said the certificate program offers professional experience because students are able to network with companies on a “one-on-one” basis.

“They [the companies] are taking time out of their career to talk to you,” Selden said. “They want you to learn and gain the knowledge that they have. It’s good because you can ask them questions and talk to the companies in a professional manner.”

Senior Holly Gilliland said students gain skills by being a part of the certificate program, and students are able to learn about companies and how they are run.

“I think AMA, it offers opportunities for students,” Gilliland said. “You can learn things in a classroom and read it and study it, but then AMA helps you apply it to actual situations.”

Hormel Foods

Hormel Foods is a Fortune 500 company that has opportunities in accounting, engineering, information technology, operations, quality assurance management and sales.

Sebastian Friedman is the marketing manager of deli for Hormel and represented the company at this event.

“We want to give students the opportunity to be a part of our Fortune 500 company,” Friedman said. “Give them the ability to travel the United States. I think some of the stuff we are looking for is people that are very driven, socialable.”

National Sales Manager of deli for Hormel Jonathan James Mcardla said that the company wants to make sure its presence is known.

“Hormel Foods is a huge fan of universities that set up clubs like the AMA here,” Mcardla said. “These are features that Hormel is really looking for as far as recruiting young people into our organization.”

TTI

TTI owns companies including Milwaukee Tool. For the certificate program on Wednesday, representatives of TTI were specifically recruiting for Milwaukee Tool.

Kelly Jo Mischler, assistant channel manager,  said TTI is currently hiring. She also said they are looking to hire more people this year.

“We typically get about five Whitewater graduates a year to TTI, but we are trying to get more aggressive and up it to 10 this year,” Mischler said. “Whitewater has been a great school for TTI as a whole.”

J.J. Keller

Paul DeBruin represented J.J. Keller. J.J. Keller has opportunities for interns and college graduates.

Keller said the company allows employees to grow professionally and many sales interns have pursued a career with the organization after graduating.