Students underwent employment interviews
On the evening of Nov. 16, Texas A&M University Kingsville’s (TAMUK) College of Business and Administration hosted the first Banking Career Expo. The two-day event allowed students to meet with prospective banks about future employment opportunities and offered interviews for potential internships and jobs opportunities on day two of the event.
The Expo began with an hour-long social, dinner and program at the Caesar Kleberg Wildlife Center during which students were able to visit with and meet banking representatives.
Jack Cissna, the first banking minor at TAMUK, and Elijah Hughes, a 2020 graduate, were the invited speakers and shared information about how TAMUK’s banking program prepared them for careers at Kleberg Bank and the Bank of South Texas.
The other speaker was Brianna Arevalo, who described her internship experience at the Bank of Falfurrias during the summer of 2021, Chair of the Accounting and Finance Department and Professor of Finance Dr. Thomas Krueger said.
“It was a throwback to my days at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. As chair of the Finance Department, I assisted the Accounting Department in having these events for the ‘Big 8’ Accounting Firms,” Krueger said. “In the case of banking, we need more banks because they will hire at most three of our students.”
On day two of the event, 15 financial institutions interviewed the 23 attending students. Each student had a minimum of two pre-arranged interviews, with most banks taking the opportunity to offer interviews to more attending students. About 112 interviews were held during the expo.
President and CEO of the Bank of South Texas Darryl Lemke was in attendance at Tuesday’s event. The Bank of South Texas also contributes to the program at TAMUK.
“I originally made contact with Dr. Krueger and Dr. Verma, several years ago. We have a branch office here and they had contacted the bank about maybe doing a project for the class and it kind of just blossomed from there,” he said.
Each bank on average interviewed eight students.
“The interviews went great; we talked about different career options and explored positions with the firms attending,” Senior Finance and Criminal Justice major Joshlynn Flores said. “I was impacted heavily by these interviews because it allowed new opportunities that students would not have access to without this banking expo. I felt that it gave me valuable connections with recruiters that were in attendance and provided a realistic view of what recruiters look for in potential candidates.”
The expo also allowed students the chance of exploring different areas of finance.
“I became interested in finance when I began attending TAMUK,” Flores said. “[I] fell in love with the world of business when initially pursuing a minor in business admin. I felt that finance was like being a detective for a firm by finding anomalies in the finances.”
To prepare for the two-day expo, students worked with professors and updated their resumes.
“All students were assigned a finance faculty member. Then Dr. William Procasky, Dr. Priti Verma, Mr. Harmeet Singh or I worked with them in resumé preparation, making sure they would be able to put forth the best evidence regarding their employ-ability based on their education and work experience,” Krueger said.
Donations for next year’s annual expo have already been made by the Bank of South Texas
Krueger credits the success of the expo on the preparations made by students.
