The Master of Business Administration program held its yearly MBA Consortium at the Davis Conference Center in Layton to provide networking opportunities to students in the program looking for more ways to apply their knowledge in other job fields.

The consortium had more than 40 employers, provided by six universities in Utah. All of the MBA students and current alumni were invited to talk with the different employers.

“It gives them a chance to network with human resource people,” said Sally Taylor, MBA secretary. “Students can stop at tables with careers they are interested in.”

Taylor said the event is a nice way for students to meet a lot of employers. She said a good way to find a job is to get the names of the human resources people.

The consortium has been going on for nine years, and students get together from the different universities to find possible future employment.

“Anyone who’s been job hunting knows you can even get your foot into HR, hardly, but this is your way to meet them,” Taylor said.

The program provided a training session on an “elevator speech,” teaching students what to say, do and ask in order to be remembered from the networking event.

“It’s just nice to have that little ‘in’ and find out what they’re looking for,” Taylor said.

DeLonie Call, chief people officer of TechMedia Network, is a WSU graduate, and was one of the employers at the event.

“Weber has always been very friendly to career-oriented people,” Call said. “I felt like I was able to compete with people from any other university when I moved into my chosen career.”

Call said the career services team was very helpful to help her turn her degree into a career. Her job now is all about the people. She has been coming to the consortium since it has been in session.

“I’m looking for students that think big and are willing to try new things,” Call said.

Luke Flinders, a WSU alumni, said it’s helpful to have the specific areas of employment at the consortium, including health care and technology. He already has an MBA degree and was at the event to support the career services team. While he was getting his MBA, the career services team set him up with a career placement.

“It provides a good sampling where MBAs can go a lot of different directions, depending on the career course,” Flinders said. “It’s good to get a lot of information.”

Pat Wheeler, coordinator of recruitment and career development for the Goddard School of Business and Economics, has been working to bring employers to the event every year. She provided the most employers this year out of the other five universities. These employers were handpicked.

Wheeler works with students on finding their career paths. For every student she has talked with, she has set them up with interviews, whether for internships, undergraduate-degree jobs or MBA jobs.

“Of the students that come and see me, I have 100 percent placement,” Wheeler said.

The business school is working to provide opportunities to students to network with employers, including this event and the Business and Industry Night in October.

“It’s all about networking,” Wheeler said.