UNL College of Business Administration marketing majors Emma Vavricka and Taylor Lucas competed at the 15^th Annual National Collegiate Sales Competition held at Kennesaw State University outside of Atlanta, Ga. The competition is the world’s largest of its kind.
 
CBA faculty attendee Dr. Scott Friend, assistant professor of marketing, believes the competition is one of the best avenues for top students to make connections in the job market.
 
“The main intent is really for career opportunities,” Friend said. “Corporate sponsorship pays for the trips and the companies get to see 150 of the top sales students in the country displaying their knowledge and skills.”
 
Instant connections often occur between the students and companies.
 
“Businesses will send text messages to students immediately after their role plays in the competition,” he said. “Several students that we’ve taken in past years have found jobs with companies like Mutual of Omaha and Johnson & Johnson. A big goal the students have is to network with companies that may not get to campus here at UNL.”
 
The CBA students performed well at the competition and Lucas won $250 for his efforts selling a payroll service from Automate Data Processing (ADP).
 
“Taylor Lucas won the first round overall prize,” Friend said. “ADP chose the student they felt performed the best overall and they picked Taylor.”
 
Lucas confirmed the event was better than he imagined.
 
“The ability to network with companies who aggressively wanted you on their team, and also interact with future leaders from other schools was incredible,” Lucas said. “I learned more about myself and the sales profession in two days than I could have anywhere else.”
 
Vavricka, who recently won an National Research Corporation (NRC) scholarship, agreed that the competition was invaluable.
 
“I would attend again in a heartbeat,” Vavricka said. “I would recommend it to anyone who has a passion for sales and wants to pursue it as a career.” Published: March 11, 2013