Hundreds of students clad in business attire gathered on the third floor of Newcomb Hall Wednesday to meet with recruiters from 130 organizations for the first day of the Fall Job and Internship Fair.
Everette Fortner, the executive director for professional development in the Darden School, said event planners invited each of the businesses in the CAVLink database — between 400 and 500 companies. The number of companies represented at the fair increased 30 percent from the previous year.
Fortner stressed the importance of developing a game plan beforehand, to avoid becoming overwhelmed by the sheer number of employers at the fair.
“Take a look at the list of companies and pick the five or 10 that you want to see,” Fortner said. “Do some research on those five or 10, prepare questions for those five or 10, and then go straight to the companies that you know you want to see and you know something about. Then, you’ll make a better impression.”
Third-year College student Kim Gianturco, who found a summer internship at the Federal Reserve Board through last year’s fair and is currently searching for a job for this upcoming summer, said she appreciated the quantity of potential employers at the event.
“There are a lot of booths and companies, but I really view that as a positive because it allows you to touch base with a lot of businesses without having to travel very far,” Gianturco said. “I’ve definitely had a number of leads today. I’ve talked with people who I really clicked with and felt like there was potential for employment at their businesses.”
Fortner said University Career Services strives to “create a diverse set of companies across all sectors” in bringing companies to the fair, though he noted “business is the largest recruiter of students.”
UCS provided students with a variety of resources to ensure they would come to the event with the skills necessary to make the best possible impression on recruiters.
“For the last month, we’ve had a number of sessions going on in University Career Services,” Fortner said. “A lot of students take advantage of ‘How to build a résumé’ [and] ‘How to do a 30-second Pitch,’ and then we have one that’s ‘How to work a career fair.’ It gives you tips on what you’re going to see and how to succeed.”
Fortner said students come for a variety of reasons — some looking for full-time employment, others internships, and some simply looking to make connections.
Students were also given the opportunity to attend a variety of panels during the fair.
“This year, we’ve added career panels to give students information about five different career options,” Fortner said. “While you’re here, you’re already in the career mindset, and it’s easy to go to a 30-minute panel and then go back out and work the companies. It takes a lot of energy and nerve to approach a company, so we think that going to one of these panels is a good opportunity for students to re-energize.”
The students at the fair were primarily third- and fourth-year University students, which Fortner said is what companies expect to see. Indeed, Allen Warner, the vice president of software technologies at Objective Interface Systems, came to the fair specifically looking for interns from the University.
“It’s a good school,” Warner said. “The intern from U.Va. that we have right now is fabulous, so that speaks a lot about the school, and we’re trying to get interns who are located close to where we are in Northern Virginia so we don’t have to worry about summer housing.”
Upperclassmen from other schools such as Virginia Military Institute and Ferrum College were also in attendance.
“Every year, VMI looks at different career fairs and U.Va. has one of the largest, so we opted to come to this one,” Major Dorothy Hayden said. “We’ve got 26 cadets here.”
One of the cadets, VMI senior Taylor Kennedy, said he enjoyed the event.
“I’ve gotten a chance to talk to a lot of people, hand out résumés to a lot of people and get a feel for what kind of jobs are available in the market,” Kennedy said.
Some underclassmen also came to the event, much to Fortner’s delight.
“I teach a course for first years, and all of them are required to come, because I feel like developing that skill of networking is crucial,” Fortner said. “If you come to the career fair as a first year and get over the jitters of going to a career fair for the first time, then when you come as a third or fourth year, you’ll be much more polished in delivering your pitch and demonstrating in 30 seconds to two minutes the skills that you have as they relate to the companies’ needs.”
First-year Engineering student Hannah Zeidler said deciding to attend the event this year was a good learning experience.
“I wanted to gain experience so I know what to do for next year,” Zeidler said. “This year, I’m not really expecting to find anything, but I’ll know for next year how to dress and what to say.”
To offset the costs of hosting the fair, businesses had to register for the event. UCS charges $300 per day for nonprofit organizations and $550 per day for corporate, government and education-based groups. Capital One and KPMG also each gave $2000 to be event sponsors.
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