For 40 years, a career event unlike any other

With resumé copies stuffed in his leather Carolina binder, Bill Warren (BSBA ’99) walked around the Dean E. Smith Center at the 1997 UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School’s Undergraduate Business Symposium, joining hundreds of fellow Carolina students as they stepped closer to their futures.

Since Warren graduated and built a career at Procter & Gamble (P&G), he has returned to Symposium every year for 25 years to manage the corporate recruiting team who are eager to fill sales, brand management, finance and accounting positions with Carolina students who have long impressed the company.

“There’s an air of confidence that Carolina students have that has never changed,” says Warren, a P&G sales director based in Columbia, South Carolina. “The students I’ve hired over the years have come from different places and backgrounds, yet they all share a similarity — they know what it takes to be successful. And they already are.”

Launched in 1984, Symposium has become a UNC Kenan-Flagler institution. For some, it’s a chance to explore the breadth of business fields. For others, it’s a confirmation that their current career paths feel right.

Some are first-year students just months into their Carolina journey; others are juniors and seniors working to land pivotal internships or sealing the deal on their first post-college jobs. Employers from across the U.S. engage with students — excited, nervous or both — to discuss the companies and opportunities there.

But that’s just one part of Symposium.

Students and employers who return year after year develop connections far more substantial than what comes with a brief chat and business card exchange at a career fair. Students get in-depth information about positions that aren’t just available but also best suited to their interests and talents.

“It’s important for P&G to be able to make those deep connections with students,” says Warren. “And Symposium provides one of the best, if not the best, opportunities in the U.S. to do just that.”

“They feel ready.”

Symposium has never been a traditional career fair, but it has always been life-changing.

Dean Mary Margaret Frank (BSBA ’92, MAC ’92, PhD ’99) attended when she was an undergraduate art history major at Carolina. She had spent the previous summer working at a New York art gallery with the goal of running her own gallery. By the end of the summer, her plan had changed.

At Symposium, Frank asked Gary Snook (BSBA ’68), who founded what would become Performance Bicycle, what class an aspiring entrepreneur should take. His answer was accounting.

The next year, she joined the student committee planning Symposium. She went on to earn her BSBA, Master of Accounting and PhD from UNC Kenan-Flagler.

“He changed my life by answering that one question,” Frank said at the 2024 Symposium. “It inspired me to think about things I’d never thought about.”

She’s far from alone. While Symposium is an important part of the recruiting season, it is geared toward career exploration.

Before Symposium, several sessions are offered by the Undergraduate Business Career Services and Symposium Core Committee teams to prepare students to effectively network at the event. A dozen or so smaller field-specific sessions are sprinkled throughout the UNC Kenan-Flagler campus on the second day.

Often mixed in with traditional fields such as investment management, operations, marketing, consulting and finance, are a wide range of other business fields and topics, including green technology, communication, women in business and the business of sports. Topics change slightly every year based on student and employer demand.

About 500 students representing 46 different majors registered for the 2024 Symposium, which featured 30 employers, over 100 company representatives and 21 industry networking workshops. Typically, guest speakers offer career insights and advice. Allison Lentz Bubar (BSBA ’02), senior vice president of supply chain management at Advance Auto Parts, participated in a fireside chat at the 2024 Symposium.

All Carolina undergraduates are welcome to attend Symposium, not just business students.

“We like to say this is for business-minded students,” says Sarah Crockett, Undergraduate Business Program (UBP) associate director of career development. “I think what comes up a lot for students is, what’s my next step? What’s the right path? What we like to help them understand is that there is not one ‘right’ path. Symposium hopefully helps them figure out possible options that align well with their interests and they feel ready to move forward.”

A big part of what makes Symposium unique is that it has always been organized and hosted by UNC Kenan-Flagler students to support other students. Students first had the idea for the event, and for four decades the core committee spends nine months planning it, from reaching out to companies to participate and securing a keynote speaker to planning catering and marketing the event across campus.

Yutika Aggarwal (BSBA ’25) attended the symposium all of her four years at Carolina, managing the event her senior year.

Hundreds of students apply each year to join the committee before a core group is selected. They collaborate throughout the year as part of a for-credit class led by Crockett. The class reflects the kind of experiential learning opportunities UNC Kenan-Flagler prioritizes.

“It’s amazing to be a part of because you’re creating an event that’s bigger than just yourself,” says Yutika Aggarwal (BSBA ’25), the 2024 Symposium’s project manager. “I wanted to be involved because Symposium has given me so much.”

Aggarwal attended Symposium all of her four years at Carolina, virtually as a first year because of COVID-19, in person the second year and as part of the committee for the remaining two years. She learned more about career paths, including consulting and software engineering. She nears graduation eyeing a role in consulting with an impressive resumé in hand. It includes internships with First Citizens Bank and consulting firm Insight Sourcing, part of Accenture, a company that regularly attends Symposium and one Aggarwal spoke with at her first Symposium.

“They’re all here to meet you,” Frank told students. “They are excited about you. We lead the way by setting the example for others. And that’s exactly what the Undergraduate Business Symposium does every year.”

Culture of support

“My quick answer as to why Symposium has lasted 40 years: student passion,” says Craig Amasya (BSBA ’17).

A UBP Assured Admit, Amasya helped organize Symposium during all of his four years at UNC Kenan-Flagler, including one year spent leading the student committee. His first job after graduation was an operations associate at Red Ventures, a media company that started building a relationship with Amasya when representatives visited one of his first-year classes.

He has returned to Symposium as a Red Ventures representative several times, as well as with digital growth equity firm Three Ships, where he’s vice president of strategy. He originally wanted to go into consulting but organizing and attending Symposium broadened his interest across business industries.

“Symposium forced me to explore in the very best way,” Amasya says. “I ended up being happier in my career because I could better assess my options upfront, early and often. My first job out of school was selling deregulated energy in Texas at Red Ventures. I never would have said I was passionate about electricity, but what I liked was being a miniature general manager, honing those business skills. That was very fulfilling.”

Amasya noticed growth in his classmates and found it especially meaningful to see a student return each year with a more confident handshake that conveyed a stronger sense of who they are and what they can do.

“It all comes down to giving students more at-bats,” he says. “There’s just so many layers of support for UNC Kenan-Flagler students. It’s amazing that something like Symposium is just one of those layers.”

At Symposium, students are never just a name on a resumé behind a collection of accomplishments. That makes all the difference and that has made Symposium so valuable for so long.

“People like Bill Warren at Symposium want to bring an opportunity to you that best fits what you want to do,” says Aggarwal.  “But he also wants to get to know you. That’s what I love about Symposium.”