Professional sales students from 30 universities across the United States will visit The University of Toledo College of Business and Innovation this weekend to compete in the second annual University of Toledo Invitational Sales Competition.

The sales competition will take place Friday and Saturday, Feb. 24 and 25 in classrooms and meeting rooms throughout the Savage & Associates Business Complex on the UT Main Campus.

The first rounds of the competition will take place from 9:15 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. Friday, followed by the wild-card round from 1:45 to 3 p.m. and quarterfinals from 4 to 5:40 p.m. The competition will conclude Saturday with the semifinals from 8:30 to 9:20 a.m. and the finals from 10:15 a.m. to 12:20 p.m.

The winners of the competition will be recognized at an awards luncheon at 1 p.m. Saturday in the Thompson Student Union Auditorium.

The Edward Schmidt School of Professional Sales at UT organizes this first and only national sales competition dedicated exclusively to juniors, sophomores and freshmen because graduating seniors are typically already placed in jobs due to high corporate demand.

“We want to help businesses find top and available business-to-business professional sales talent while also giving universities a recruitment tool to grow their sales program enrollments,” said Deirdre Jones, director of the Edward Schmidt School of Professional Sales and the UT Invitational Sales Competition.

The event also will feature a career fair for participating students from 9:15 a.m. to 3 p.m. Friday in the Driscoll Alumni Center featuring sales leaders and recruiters from 15 sponsoring companies.

More than 100 sales leaders and recruiters who participate serve as buyers and judges for the role plays and also interact with the students during coaching and interviewing sessions and the career fair.

Sponsors include 3M, Owens Corning, Quicken Loans, Schindler Elevator Corporation, Goodyear Tire and Rubber, Hilti and Proctor and Gamble.

Participating universities include Baylor, Florida State University, Ball State, Oregon State, Temple and Indiana.