Nothing brings BYU students together like a friendly game of ultimate frisbee. Pariveda Solutions, a national technology consulting firm, capitalized on that fact while on a recruiting visit to Provo.
“Companies are challenged to differentiate themselves on campus,” says Sean McCall, vice president of Pariveda’s Houston office. “We have a very people-focused, teamwork-based view, and we find that a lot of those same values are embodied in ultimate frisbee. So we pulled folks together to enjoy an afternoon of playing.”
The event, held October 5, was put on for BYU’s Association of Computing Majors and Association for Information Systems clubs. Pariveda is one of sixteen corporate sponsors of BYU’s AIS club. Approximately forty students gathered to participate in the activity and learned firsthand Pariveda’s commitment to “learn, coach, give.”
“I loved having a chance to get out and play with students from ACM and AIS,” says Kyle Longhurst, a first-year MISM student from Orem who serves as vice president of marketing for BYU’s AIS. “It was a nice break from the books or, in our case, the computer screen.”
McCall, who happens to captain the US Ultimate team, spoke to students at the event about the importance of having hobbies and interests outside of the business world.
“It’s better to be well-rounded with good grades than to have a 4.0 but nothing else to talk about,” McCall says. “I want to encourage people to not be afraid of talking about sports in an interview or in a social setting. If there’s something you’ve done—whether it is sports, church or community service, or a hobby—if it’s relevant to the interview question, have the courage to go there.”
Pariveda is headquartered in Dallas and specializes in IT strategy, custom software, enterprise integration, and user experience. Several BYU graduates are employed at the firm, which has resulted in a lot of interaction between McCall and Cougar alums.
“The quality of the BYU candidates that we’ve taken into our firm has been so high that it’s gotten my attention and the attention of my peers,” McCall says. “So we’re very motivated to learn more about the school. Other schools have asked me, ‘How can we be better?’ And a lot of what I tell them is based on my interactions with BYU and its alumni.”
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Writer: Madi Nield