Firm Night 2018 give students a head start of jobs and internships

Dapperly dressed and armed with resumes depicting his diverse academic portfolio, Cage Dix worked the room looking for an opportunity to begin a career after his upcoming graduation from Radford University in May.

The senior finance and accounting double major from Drakes Branch has many options.

“I’m leaning for a job toward the financial side, but I could take the accounting route as well. You can’t go wrong with either,” he said in between one-on-one meetings with recruiters at Firm Night in Kyle Hall’s multipurpose room.

Firm Night is an annual networking event sponsored by Radford University's Department of Accounting, Finance and Business Law. It gives students an opportunity to meet and communicate with accounting, business and finance firms.

“We started Firm Night to give our students a chance to ‘strut their stuff’ before a group of recruiters from a variety of firms,” said Dan Davidson, chair of Accounting, Finance and Business Law. “We have grown steadily over the years, and our accounting and finance graduates have obtained some wonderful opportunities, including employment with numerous accounting firms and investment businesses. All they needed was a chance to be seen by recruiters, and the number of firms that come back year after year attests to the quality of our students.”

Seniors only were permitted for the first 30 minutes of the two-hour event. All College of Business and Economics finance and accounting majors were invited for the remaining 60 minutes.

Representatives from 30 local and regional firms attended the event looking to find their future employees.

“Our accounting and finance students have a great opportunity at Firm Night to network as they search for that perfect internship or full-time position,” Associate Accounting Professor Mike Chatham said.

Dix’s diversity is a trait Christine Lawson, a recruiter from State Farm Insurance, noticed in many of the Radford students she spoke with at Firm Night.

“I just met a young lady who is a finance major and is fluent in German,” Lawson said. “This is a really diverse group of students, and they are not one dimensional at all.”

It was Lawson’s third year attending Firm Night. “I love coming here,’ she said. “I always meet quality people.”

A few years ago, Robert King ’16, attended Firm Night as a Radford University senior. It helped him find a job. Now, as a representative of Cotton and Company, King was back on campus looking for qualified job candidates to join him at the accounting firm.

“This event is an absolute must for students, “King said. “It’s great Radford hosts this event for students.”

Ty Albritton attended Firm Night to look for an internship or a full-time job to begin after he graduates in May.

“This event is so important to us because, otherwise, we would not have access and be able to meet all these people from different companies,” the senior accounting major from Roanoke said. “It’s really crucial for our careers and our future to have this fair.”

The opportunity to meet so many company representatives in Kyle Hall – the student’s home turf – provided a comfort level above what they find while on a job interview in a corporate office.

“This being an informal setting makes this be a little more comfortable to us,” said Reagan Elkins, a senior accounting major from Wise. “It’s nice to be able to come here and have our professors around. That creates a little bit of a comfort zone.”