This summer, one of QUEST’s very own, Avi Kozlowski of Q24, attended Deloitte’s annual NextGen Leaders National Conference. This highly selective conference is a multi-day event intended to introduce outstanding freshmen from colleges and universities all over the country to Deloitte and its culture. Held at Deloitte’s training facility known as Deloitte University located in Westlake, Texas, participants in the program got a chance to participate in various team building exercises and network with Deloitte professionals. Outside of the planned events for the conference, conference participants could go to the gym, known as DFit, visit the stables, and ride bikes. In the evenings, many conference goers would visit the Barn, which is a casual location on the Deloitte University campus that has various games and delicious food. Below are some questions I asked Avi about his experience at the NextGen conference as well as his responses.

What is the NextGen conference?

The NextGen conference is Deloitte’s National Leadership conference. It is a conference for college students that Deloitte is interested in having work for them post graduation. The conference lasted 4 days and was a mix of educational learning and fun activities. There was an emphasis placed on personal branding.

How did you get involved with Deloitte & get the opportunity to have this experience?

I was interested in Deloitte ever since I started college. When I heard about this program from a friend in the Smith School, I immediately applied. I had 2 interviews at UMD and then was put up in DC for 2 follow up interviews a few weeks later. I then received a call that I was invited to attend the conference.

What was your favorite thing about the conference?

There was so much incredible food and it was all you could eat (they also gave us some free time to hangout with each other and burn off some of the calories).

What did you hope to gain from the conference? What did you actually get out of it?

I hoped to gain a job, and not only did I get a job, but I also received a signing bonus for having attended the conference and learned a lot about myself and how to market myself in a way that makes me a better candidate for a company.

Would you recommend this experience to other students? Why or why not?

I would 100% recommend this to everyone. It is a lot of fun, a great learning experience, and usually results in a job offer!