More than 180 professionals mixed with students seeking information and contacts to help them find a career at the Bermuda International Business Association's (BIBA) annual College Student Networking Event on Friday.

A record 130 students pre-registered for the event which was held at the Bermuda Underwater Exploration Institute.

Government officials attending included Ministers Paula Cox, David Burch, Neletha Butterfield, Wayne Perinchief and Dennis Lister.

The event provided a unique opportunity to meet key business contacts all under one roof. BIBA applied the concept of "speed dating" to the evening's opportunities to enable the students and professionals to meet, network and talk to each other.

The speed-dating/interviewing technique gave students the opportunity to quickly find out more about the various career options that are available to them in a wide variety of industries.

There were three sessions of speed interviews, each of which gave three sets of ten students the opportunity to sit with three sets of ten potential employers for three minutes at a time and find out more information about the particular company or industry represented. It allowed students to ask questions and get insights into the wide variety of careers that may occur within a company.

Gift bags were provided by corporate sponsors and the students were eligible to win four prizes. The top prize, a laptop computer donated by Logic Communications, went to Jana Outerbridge who was judged by the speed interviewers to be the best interviewee of the evening. Jana is studying psychology at Tennessee State University and when she graduates, she has not yet made up her mind on a choice of careers — being interested in both psychology with a concentration in counselling or alternately, a career in marketing or advertising. Certainly, the interviewing skills she has already developed will allow her to choose her own path.

The human resources session lecturers chose the most enthusiastic attendee to their sessions and awarded BIBA's gift, a JetBlue gift certificate for travel to Gladwin Omar Lodge, Jr. who is studying commerce at St. Mary's University and is looking forward to a career in either global business management of insurance broking.

Dundee Leeds Management Services, Ltd. gave the third award, an internship at the fund administration company for a college student studying business or finance. Ryan Cabral, an A grade honour student at Saltus' SGY programme, who is currently enrolled in the Bachelor of Management programme at Dalhousie University received the internship, having displayed stellar qualifications and a keen interest in the international business sector. Ryan is considering various career options, with accounting being a main focus.

Interviewers chose Jeoffrey Chisnall as a younger person with the most potential and he will receive $200 worth of pre-paid long distance calling cards donated by Northrock Communications. He is at Mount St. Agnes and intends, in the future, to look for a career in business, accounting or insurance.

BIBA chief executive officer Cheryl Packwood said: "I am most grateful to all of the industry members who came out to support the event and Bermuda's youth. They gave freely of their time and resources and I am confident that many concrete associations were made."