Corporate America meets the Ohio State Buckeyes – Ohio State Buckeyes
5/29/2015 12:00:00 AM | Football
May 29, 2015
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Recruiting outstanding talent isn’t just the goal of the Ohio State football coaching staff. It’s a “corporate America” necessity, which is precisely why Friday night 57 companies, businesses and organizations sent recruiters and human resource representatives to Ohio Stadium to meet with members of the Ohio State football team as part of the third annual Ohio State Football Job Fair.
“Who doesn’t want to hire a guy who knows about selflessness, being a part of a team, commitment, time management and most importantly, solving issues in front of 30 million people on television, if that’s how many watched our game with Oregon … or 110,000 people when our guys go to work on Saturday,” Ohio State coach Urban Meyer asked an assembled group of media. “Everybody wants to hire those guys.”
Meyer and his staff and administrators have made it easy for businesses around the state, region and sometimes even nationally to meet with members of his football team. Citing a need to make sure his student-athletes get more out of their Ohio State experience than an opportunity to keep playing football on Sundays along with a college degree, he has made preparing for life after football an integral part of his program’s educational process.
Each spring his team receives insight from influential individuals who share insight into their success. The lectures are on Wednesdays and thus the name of the program: Real Life Wednesdays. This year players heard from an impressive array of speakers, including:
- Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase & Co.;
- Dan Gilbert, owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers and chairman of Rock Ventures;
- Former Buckeye Corey Linsley, the starting center for the Green Bay Packers;
- Cameron Mitchell, president and founder of Cameron Mitchell Restaurants;
- Dennis Maag, vice-president and senior lending manager at JPMorgan Chase & Co.; and
- Mike Andrews, senior vice-president at JPMorgan Chase & Co.;
There is an “application” part to the lectures this year vs. just theory. Players learned about their own credit scores; they were schooled in apartment and auto leases; they learned about key business-related “apps” for their iPads; they updated their resumes; and they are currently taking part in internships and shadowing opportunities, including a visit to JPMorgan Chase’s U.S. headquarters by 14 players for a four-hour education in the culture of the company.
Players are interning all over Columbus. Senior tackle Taylor Decker is at the Columbus Zoo & Aquarium for the second consecutive summer. Senior linebacker Cam Williams is with the law firm Kegler, Brown, Hill & Ritter. And senior wide receiver Jeff Greene is with IMG, to name just a few.
And Friday evening the players used all their preparation and training to go table-to-table to meet with the reps and recruiters from an impressive array of companies across all business sectors, including but not limited to:
- Financial – JPMorgan Chase … Key Bank … Quicken Loans
- Insurance – New York Life … State Farm … Motorists Group … NW Mutual
- Food Service – Kroger … Giant Eagle … Kellogg … Red Bull … Mitchells … Panera … Bob Evans
- Law Enforcement – Cincinnati FBI…Columbus Secret Service…State Highway Patrol
- Broadcast Industry – ESPN … WBNS-TV Ch. 10 … Columbus Dispatch
- Marketing – IMG … M2 Marketing
- Athletic Admin. – NIKE …Ohio State University
- Medical Sales – Stryker … Nationwide Children’s Hospital … Cardinal Health
Ohio State may have a decided advantage being located in a capital city rich with jobs, but Meyer and his coaches work at getting their players prepared not only for this job fair, but for success 5-, 10- and 20-years down the road.
“I think we have done a good job getting our guys in front of corporate America,” Meyer said. “And our built in advantage is this: corporate America is only two miles away.”
There has been a cumulative total of over 150 businesses and organizations taking part in the job fair over the last three years and the reason appears clear.
“Corporate America wants Ohio State people; our good people,” Meyer said.
The recruiters and representatives on hand were in agreement.
“We like athletes and former military personnel because they are disciplined, regimented, they know how to get over failure quickly and they keep moving forward,” said Paul Franklin, from New York Life’s Washington, D.C., branch.
“We hire one student-athlete from Ohio State for an internship every year,” Arielle Brown, college recruiter for NIKE, said. “Student-athletes are a great population for us because of their sports IQ, they understand the collegiate environment and they have leadership skills in and outside of the workplace.”
Many former Buckeyes were at the job fair passing out resumes and speaking with the various company representatives as well, including C.J. Barnett, Connor Crowell and J.B. Shugarts.
And for Ohio State’s freshmen: consider today the official start of their networking careers.
