Monday marks the start of the fall semester’s highly coveted Career Fair. For some, this is the chance to get their name out in the job market and to also speak first hand to potential employers face-to-face.
For seniors graduating in the fall without a job lined up, the Career Fair serves as a last ditch effort to secure a job. Yet for many this semiannual event creates more stress than income. It is a challenge within itself to battle through the large crowd of students to reach a company representative.
The heart of the problem lies in the fact that the career fair encompasses more than just careers. Some companies have booths tabled looking for than just full-time employees. Many are looking for co-ops or interns to fill their ranks. Because of this, students of every year flood the ballroom looking to gain their highly valued chance at work experience making it difficult for a majority of seniors to speak with representatives.
The majority of this congestion could be alleviated by separating the career fair into three distinct categories; careers, internships and co-ops. Each individual category could then cater to a specific student group. Streamlining the system even further, each of the different career fairs would admit students based on hours and thus allowing the older students who are in need to go first.
Other options like creating major specific fares, hosting the event in a larger arena and creating different incentives that could attract a larger number of companies to attend could help to provide more space and more employers that could cater to every type of job seeking student.
It must be said that Career Services is vital asset to students here at Tech and does a great job providing for the student body in many ways, but ultimately it is the student’s responsibility to secure his or her own future.