Students seeking jobs and internships can expect to see several industry-specific events in place of the traditional, large-scale fair this spring.
In previous semesters, the Fleishman Center for Career and Professional Development held one fair in the Events Center, but this year the center will host four industry-specific fairs. The new career fairs will feature a STEM fair, a business and communications fair, a student employment and summer opportunities fair and a common good, government, nonprofit and summer camps fair.
Brandy Smith, senior assistant director for employer engagement and operations at the Fleishman Center, wrote in an email that these changes were prompted by the differences between fall and spring recruitment.
“Fall recruitment tends to be larger, and more competitive,” Smith wrote. “This spring, we decided to try holding several small industry-fairs after hearing feedback from employers who wished for a more specialized environment for spring recruitment. Spring-semester recruiting tends to be of a different nature than the fall, with different industries recruiting for both jobs and internships during this time. This new format is designed to take advantage of that with students in mind and provide them with a different way of connecting with employers.”
According to Smith, the Fleishman Center began holding smaller fairs for nursing students and received positive feedback, which got them thinking about holding specific fairs for individual industries. Smith wrote she believes the smaller fairs will be beneficial to students as they are more specialized and take place in a central location on campus.
“We believe these smaller, industry-specific fairs are a great place for new networkers to practice their skills in a more specialized environment,” Smith wrote. “Students will have an opportunity to make connections with employers in a smaller venue centered around a field they are interested in. Also, since the fairs are smaller in size, with 40 [to] 60 employers attending each fair, we are able to host them in the Mandela Room, a more central location on campus that will hopefully maximize students’ access.”
Dalia Mermelstein, a sophomore majoring in psychology, said she enjoyed last semester’s job and internship fair precisely because it presented a variety of opportunities.
“I liked last semester’s job and internship fair and I liked [that] there were so many people and so many employers there because I got to see stuff from all different fields in one shot instead of going for each specific thing,” Mermelstein said. “I was looking at art opportunities and also working with people with special needs so I was looking at all of that in the same place.”
However, Eden Janfar, a sophomore double-majoring in business administration and accounting, said he attended a fair through the School of Management that consisted of smaller events, and preferred it to the larger fairs.
“I went to many different events,” Janfar said. “In regards to the smaller events, I honestly think that it was a better way to connect to the people of that firm. There weren’t as many long lines to speak to the people of that firm.”
The spring fairs are set to begin on Thursday, Feb. 21 with the STEM Job and Internship Fair and continue throughout the following weeks. A large fair will be held again in the fall semester.