News Stories

This year the SCU Accounting Association (SCUAA) merged its annual Meet-the-Firms Night with the virtual Career Center Fall BASH held on Tuesday, September 30, 2020 from 12 PM to 4 PM. The event was open to all SCU students including undergraduates, graduates, and CAAP students. Utilizing either Handshake’s embedded video platform or their preferred virtual hosting platform, firms were able to host both group information sessions (of up to 50 students) and one-on-one sessions (meeting directly with individual students).  Fifteen professional accounting and consultancy firms (shown below) attended the event, offering a total of 48 group information sessions and 881 one-on-one sessions.  

The SCU Accounting Association (SCUAA) prepared students for the event by contacting students with event details, providing an online professionalism tips video, and announcing the event in every accounting class.  Several Accounting 11 (Introduction to Financial Accounting) and Business 70 (Introduction to Business) classes also offered extra credit to encourage first year and sophomore business students to attend one or more CPA firm group information sessions.

Handshake reports for the event indicate that 46 Accounting and A&IS students registered for the event.  These students signed up for 75 group sessions and 59 one-on-one sessions.  Accounting juniors and A&IS seniors were the students that signed up for most of these sessions. Handshake reports also indicate that 30 CAAP students registered for 63 group sessions and 170 one-on-one sessions.

Although both firms and students prefer in-person recruiting events, feedback for the event was overall positive.  Many firms started using virtual interview platforms prior to the pandemic and expect to continue or expand virtual interviews in the foreseeable future.