A vision for business and entrepreneurship brought regional, national and global companies to Tabor College. Its “Week of Business”, hosted on Oct. 28-Nov. 5, brought over 30 employers to Hillsboro for a series of business experiences and a career fair.
Two weeks later, executive leadership of McCoy’s Building Supply visited campus to present and network with financial accounting, marketing and human resource management classes. CEO Brian McCoy and former VP of Marketing and Real Estate Dan Stauffer each spoke in class to students.
“The entire experience made such an impact on students,” Dr. Melinda Rangel, associate professor of business management, said. “I had personal emails from students telling me that they had never experienced something like that before and they were so grateful.”
The Oct. 28 career workshop helped students prepare for the job fair, giving their elevator pitch, resume tips, dressing appropriately and choosing a career and job search.
Rangel’s Entrepreneurship Experience class created the three nights of business experiences. The events, held on Nov. 2, 3 and 4, brought three guest speakers to campus to speak and network with students.
Speakers included Dustin Gaylon, Each1 Only1; Jocelyn Galicia Powell, 2U Auto; and Aaron Dixon, First Impressions Litter Management. Each lecture was supported by the Nachtigall Lecture Series at Tabor.
Student leaders included Zach Dieterich (SR, Richardson, Texas), Kacey Williams (SR, Kearney, Mo.), Raymond Perrault (SR, El Cajon, Calif.), Jean Paul Fort (JR, Lima, Peru) and Ethan Kutz (SO, Sheridan, Wyo.).
“The agenda/formulation of the evenings were designed by the students,” Rangel said. “They prepared the agenda, decided who would speak/host each evening, gathered giveaways for students, decorated tables, and cleaned up each night.”
Lily Arthur, assistant professor of accounting, was also instrumental in planning and decorating the three evenings with the five students.
A total of 28 businesses from Kansas, Missouri and Texas were present at the career fair with four more joining over ZOOM.
Tabor College Job Fair participants
Adams, Brown
Arne Reinert CPA
Bank of the West
BT & Co. Certified Public Accounts
Conrade Insurance Group
Container Services
Emprise Bank
Grasshopper
Great Plains Manufacturing
Integrated Wealth Management
Knudsen Monroe & Company
Koch Companies Services, LLC-Wichita
KS StateBank (via ZOOM)
MB Foundation
McCoy’s Building & Supply (via ZOOM)
Metro Electric & Lighting (via ZOOM)
Netapp
Newton Medical Center
Pfizer
Repco
Standish Management, LLC. (via ZOOM)
T-Mobile
Adrienne’s/Tabor JayShop
Vogts Construction Co.
We Wash Windows
Wichita Wind Surge
Kim Wiens Real Estate
Woodmont Cabinetry
W-Young Professionals of Wichita
“I was most pleased with the diversity of businesses we were able to get,” Rangel said. “Our student population is very diverse so we wanted to provide opportunities locally, but also focus on businesses that students could find in their home communities and were more globally positioned.”
Rangel said businesses responded favorably to the event, including one regional business that shared the following.
“I’ve only been recruiting at career fairs for three years, but the average professionalism from the students and the average quality of conversation at this event was the highest I’ve ever seen, and it’s not particularly close. I recommended to our senior recruiter that he pursue three of your May 2022 graduates and we plan on making a run at one of your May 2023 graduates late next year.”
The interviews were conducted in 10-minute intervals, allowing students to maximize their opportunities for networking and meeting potential employers.
“I believe this quality job fair will give our students a strong competitive advantage in their career-seeking endeavors,” Rangel said. “One student told me, ‘I feel that the business department has something super special in the works here and if we can make it an annual event, recruitment will go up and retention will rise!’”