The competition, established in 2005 at Sacramento State University, is a valuable way for students, company recruiters and faculty to interact in a spirit of competition, collegiality and professionalism.

The contest includes business colleges and schools from universities located in California and Arizona. Over the past several years, dozens of junior and senior students from nine universities have participated in the competition. Contestants are generally from marketing, management or business administration disciplines.

Each school selects students to participate in the competition. Students use buyer profiles and sales case studies to prepare for the competition, where they participate in two mock sales interviews and are rated by a team of judges made up of company sales executives from sponsoring organizations.

I was selected while I was in the exchange program at Northern Arizona University on Spring 2008. Then ADP and Liberty Mutual Insurance were the lead sponsors. Besides being a very nice experience, the Western States Collegiate Sales Competition put me in contact with very valuable people and friends.