Heavener Hall’s courtyard was buzzing with students on Wednesday’s unseasonably warm afternoon as they looked to gain exposure at a Fortune 500 recruiting event.
About 40 students passed through the newly constructed building between 1 and 3 p.m., enjoying lemonade in the 72-degree weather as they learned about summer internship opportunities with FIS, a banking and payments technologies company.
Under the sun, recruiters played cornhole on sets printed with their company logos.
“We wanted to give students a nice setting to relax in between classes while they also learn about the great summer internship opportunities FIS has to offer,” said Deanna Thornton, an FIS recruiter.
FIS, a Fortune 500 company, offers paid internships in numerous business departments within the company at four Florida locations. It travels to colleges around Florida recruiting interns, Thornton said.
Gourav Anvekar, a 25-year-old UF information systems graduate student, said he had an internship with FIS last summer, which was extended through the Fall and then again this semester. He has an interview with them again next week, but this time he said he’s hoping to land a job.
Heavener Hall, a 57,000-square-foot building that opened in November, is already becoming a hub for the Warrington College of Business Administration’s undergraduate programs and activities.
Tannu Jiwnani, a UF information systems and operations management graduate student, said she already applied for an internship with FIS, but she chose to come out to network and enjoy the beautiful weather with the business school.
“I enjoyed talking again with the recruiters I have met before,” Jiwnani said, “and meeting with the interns that were out there talking about their experiences.”
[A version of this story ran on page 4 on 1/22/2015 under the headline “Fortune 500 company recruits at Heavener Hall on Wednesday"]
