By John Frierson
Staff Writer
Doing a job interview over Zoom is a new experience that many college graduates have experienced or will soon in the weeks and months ahead. Former Georgia football player Mitchell Werntz made the most of his, earning a position with KPMG, one of the world’s top accounting firms.
Werntz, who is graduating with a degree in Management, first got connected with KPMG through the SEC which put on virtual student-athlete career fairs to help companies get to know some of the conference’s student-athletes that would soon be entering the job market.
“I just decided to join one of the KPMG ones and I made a great connection with someone through that call,” Werntz said, “and it eventually turned itself into a job that I’ll be starting in October.”
All Georgia students are well-acquainted with Zoom calls and online classes by now, but doing a meet-and-greet with someone from a major company is a much different experience. There were ups and downs to it, Werntz said.
“I’m OK with the online stuff just because it lets me be in my own setting and I’m comfortable in my area, but there are some drawbacks,” he said. “I only get 10 minutes to make an impression, and then it’s over. I don’t get to shake their hand or chit-chat or go out to eat with them after.”
When it came to his job interview with KPMG, Werntz went all out. For most of his job interviews, he said, he had on the suit coat and tie — the parts visible on camera — but wore sweatpants below. For KPMG, he put on the full suit and was dressed up like he was doing in the interview in person.
“I even put my watch on, I was smelling good, and it must have worked,” he said with a laugh.
Werntz, a football walk-on from Brookhaven, Ga., said there was “no chance” he would have gotten the job “if it wasn’t for The Georgia Way and the resources that were available to me through football.”
