As Wharton undergraduates and College economics majors scurry for jobs and summer internships, Delta Sigma Pi is offering some help.
Delta Sig, an international co-ed business fraternity, is hosting an all-day finance conference on Jan. 25 in Steinberg-Dietrich Hall.
The conference will feature two hour-long internship panels and an afternoon career fair.
"The purpose of the conference is to help juniors and sophomores get an internship," said Delta Sig President Philip Sternheimer, a Wharton senior. "All these companies have their presentations, and I think it will be much more convenient to have them in one place."
About 300 undergrads are expected to attend. The conference is not open to MBA students, but all undergraduates are invited and will be charged $20 to attend.
The aim of the conference is to help students understand the difference between the 11 represented companies, including J.P. Morgan and Bank of America Securities, whose recruiters will be on hand to explain their summer programs and the culture of their companies.
"We're using this really to educate people about our firm overall, especially through the panels that they will be having," J.P. Morgan Recruiter Megan McGilloway said. "I think we're doing this more for the students than for ourselves. We see this more as an informational opportunity. We're not going in aggressively to heavily recruit."
And with a tough job market and a suffering economy, many students are looking for all the help they can get.
"Any opportunity to get to meet people who are hiring is always a good thing," said Finance Professor Chris Geczy, a Delta Sig faculty advisor.
At the same time, companies are looking for qualified interns and employees, despite the economic slowdown.
"Our goal is to reach out to as many students as possible," McGilloway said. "We look for diversity in terms of background and experience, and this seems like a good opportunity to make sure that we're getting a good pool of interested and qualified students."
McGilloway added that she feels students who attend the conference still need to go to the on-campus presentations that the companies give throughout the semester.
At the conference, students will have the chance to have in-depth conversations with representatives when they sit at their tables for lunch and during the career fair.
"You have all the banks in one big room [at the career fair], rather than going to company presentations all over campus at night, where you have to wait an hour to shmooze with the representatives," said Sternheimer, who added that many of the on-campus presentations are held at the same time, making it difficult for students to attend all of them.
The panel discussions, which will focus on topics such as firm culture and corporate finance, will aim to give students new perspectives on their future employments.
"I think it's an educational opportunity that extends beyond the classroom," Geczy said.
In addition to hosting their First Annual Delta Sigma Pi Finance Conference, Delta Sig is getting ready for its recruitment rush, which will begin next week.
Interested students must submit their resumes by this Saturday. They can do so by sending an e-mail to lorikim@wharton.upenn.edu or by dropping them off in the box outside Barbara Hewitt's office in Career Services.
