When DePaul University Junior Oscar Villarreal has questions about his career, he knows he can always count on his mentor Raymond Soto, a consultant with Andersen Consulting, to give him the inside scoop.

Villarreal and Soto are participants in a mentoring program organized by the DePaul chapter of the Midwest Association of Hispanic Accountants (MAHA). Founded three years ago, DePaul's MAHA has 52 members and is the largest of the three MAHA chapters in Illinois. The others are affiliated with University of Illinois, Chicago and Northern Illinois University.

The association offers career guidance and support for Hispanic students in DePaul's College of Commerce. Hispanics have earned about 9 percent of the undergraduate business degrees awarded by DePaul during the last three years.

MAHA's mentor program links finance and accountancy majors with professionals working for accounting, finance and consulting companies in the Chicago area. It also serves as a forum for graduating students to make contacts with prestigious area firms that are recruiting new employees. Twenty-two mentors from Chicago companies, including McDonald's Corp., Quaker Oats Co., Anheuser-Busch, Inc., and Leo Burnett Co. Inc., are currently working with DePaul MAHA students.

"Mentors are valuable because they can provide answers about recruiting companies, including questions about working environments and the quality of work a particular company might give you," said Villarreal, who is the 1996-97 president of DePaul's MAHA chapter. "Also, since the mentors have been through the recruiting process, they can give advice and provide inside information about where to go with your career."

Villarreal said Soto, a DePaul graduate and past MAHA president, gave him interview pointers, helped him organize his interview time and decide which positions to pursue.

Even though he still has a year to go before he graduates, Villarreal says Soto's career advice has already paid off. Villarreal has been hired full-time as a technical analyst with Baxter Healthcare in Round Lake and is finishing his business degree requirements by taking evening business classes at DePaul.

Villarreal can be reached through MAHA's DePaul office, (312) 362-5058, or at home: 312/455-8175. College of Commerce Associate Dean Robert M. Peters, advisor for MAHA, can be reached at (312) 362-8770.