Career Fair success

By Vanessa Harmoush in News on Nov 1, 2011 4:57 / comments

The 2011 Career Fair is the most successful one to date.

On Oct. 5, more than 125 different companies came to CU’s career fair and more than 30 organizations that were wait listed due to lack of space.

According to a press release, the level of success comes from the fact that the career fair was only for one day, instead of over the course of two days like last year.

“I think the different format was helpful because we had everyone come on one day and students were able to work it within their one day schedule instead of two days,” Suzann Shotts, event coordinator for Career Services, said. “There were different employers each day and I think all employers one day really helped.”

Shefali Shah, a senior business major, learns about career opportunities with Teach America from senior political science and economics major Liz Thurston in the Glenn Miller Ballroom. Future graduates and alumni took advantage of the dozens of networking and career connections made available at the career fair in 2010. (CU Independent file/Amy Moore-Shipley)Tanner Hannam, a 20-year-old junior electrical engineering major, said he went to the career fair for the experience.

“I thought it was a good experience to get out there and start looking for internships,” Tanner Hannam, a junior electrical engineering major, said.

According to the press release, last year, there were 3000 students that came over the course of two days with different employers each day. This year, 3150 students and alumni came to the fair in one day.

“Employers said students were really well prepared and they were really worn out,” Shotts said.

Shotts said many of the employers do informational presentations at the career fair, then they have meetings at night and finally they do interviews on campus.

“We have at least one student here [at the Career Service Center] offered a job after an on campus interview,” Shotts said.

The companies that attend the career fair are chosen simply based on their own interests.

“What we do is we send main invitation to all employers and tell them when registration is open and they can start signing up,” Shotts said.

The companies represented at the fair were mostly engineering companies; however, there were a higher number of new companies that represented arts and science as well as business.

“I was going through the list of all the companies that were going to be there and there were definitely a lot of opportunities for engineers, specifically for what I’m doing,” Hannam said. “There wasn’t a shortage of potential companies there.”

According to the press release, off the 3150 students and alumni in attendance this year, 50 percent were Arts & Science majors. 9 percent of attendees were alumni and 35 percent were CU freshmen, up from the mere 5-9 percent of freshmen attendees last year.

All Arts and Science freshmen had to participate in the buff essentials. The career fair was a buff essentials activity.

Hannam spoke to three companies and gave them his resume during the career fair.

“I was interviewed by one of them, but I haven’t had any other contact with any of them,” Hannam said.

There will be two more career fairs next year, one in the last week of January, and the other in the first week of April. The alumni career fair will take place in June.

Contact CU Staff Writer Vanessa Harmoush at Vanessa.harmoush@colorado.edu.