Jonathan P. Murray, senior vice president of investments and wealth management specialist at Smith Barney, will play the role of Donald Trump for this year's "The Associate" competition.
"The Associate," hosted by the College of Business and Economics, is TU's version of NBC's reality hit "The Apprentice." The program gives eight graduating seniors the chance to compete for a job.
The event begins Feb. 20, but CBE students must submit their application by Dec. 15. Contestants will be announced at the beginning of the spring semester.
This year, the companies that participate in the competition will write letters of recommendation for all the contestants - even the ones who don't win.
"We're doing this to benefit the students," Laleh Malek, director of professional experience in CBE said. "The letters will assist them in finding a job in the marketplace and it's something that they will always have in their portfolio."
Malek said Murray was selected based on his wide range of workforce knowledge and experience. In addition to working at Smith Barney he serves as a financial analyst on WBAL Radio and has appeared on several television news programs, including "The Today Show" on NBC.
"We felt that he would provide the students with a different perspective," Malek said. "We've had bankers in the past, so we decided to go outside the banking spectrum. Murray can provide that to the students."
During the competition, the eight contestants will have to complete five case studies. Malek said that this year, the cases cover a wide range of business aspects.
"We're looking for diverse cases this year," she said. "The cases will be in finance, manufacturing, marketing, management, and human resources."
Former TU alum and contestant Santiago Hernandez said the experience was equivalent to "five or six internships." He came in second place in last year's competition.
Hernandez, who majored in finance, said that when he learned that all of the case studies for his competition were related to marketing, he drew on information and skills that he had learned in the few marketing classes he had taken at TU, but mostly relied on his critical thinking skills.
"If you want to be successful academically, you have to read the textbooks and go to class, but when it comes time to actually apply what you learned, it all depends on how well and how quickly you can adapt and think," he said.
Carolyn Oleynik, communications specialist for CBE, said that since the college began the competition two years ago, business students have been eager to participate.
"I think because of the popularity that the competition has had in the last two years, students have come to us, all throughout the year, even at the end of last year and the beginning of this year, asking us about this upcoming competition," she said. "I know that the longer we have the competition, the more it will become well known throughout the business student body, and that's something that works in our favor."
Twenty students applied for the competition last year and Malek said that based on feedback from students, the number of applications this year will double.
Applicants are selected based on their application, an audition video and a letter of recommendation.
"Being selected is really based on what the student says to show us that they know what it takes to go through this competition," Malek said. "We're not looking for one specific thing. It's about what they can present to us about themselves."
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