Anticipation and excitement filled the air as Marquette students filed into the Alumni Memorial Union in their best business attire to meet future employers at this year’s fall Career Fair.
The room was filled with conversation from the many students who attended as well as over 100 booths. The event was held on Wednesday and Thursday in the AMU Monaghan Ballrooms from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m.
The Career Fair is hosted by the Marquette Career Center, which recently opened its new office in the Lemonis Center. This event allows students to reach out to possible future employers and build their network. It also helps to connect with alumni in the area. The event is held annually in September and is the largest recruiting event of the year at Marquette, lasting two days.
The first day, Wednesday, was dedicated to non-tech jobs such as business, communications, government, non-profit, healthcare, social services and post-grad/year of service. Thursday featured tech-related jobs such as engineering, IT and other technical fields.
Courtney Hanson, a Director of the Marquette Career Center, explains why students should want to take advantage of the many opportunities the Career Fair has to offer.
“The great thing about career fairs is even if a company is not actively recruiting for the type of job you want, it is a great opportunity to talk to company representatives and explore leads within companies for the kind of job you seek. Career fairs are really the only time of year when we have hundreds of employers on campus, wanting to meet as many Marquette students as possible, and all students should attend,” said Hanson.
Some students might think it is too early for them to attend a career fair. However, Hanson says that attending is always a good idea, no matter what year you are.
“It is a great opportunity for younger students to experience a career fair while the stakes are low,” Hanson said. “That way when they are attending with goals of securing an internship or job, they know what to expect at the event. The Career Center staff ask employers who are open to helping students learn and explore to wear a colored dot sticker on their name tag so students can feel confident approaching employers.”
Students were also given the opportunity to learn how to prepare for a career fair and what to expect. DJ Quam, a representative from GE Health Care and alumnus of Marquette, spoke about what good practice looks like when preparing for the event.
Quam gave students tips on what to expect and how to set themselves up for success. He also showed students what stands out to recruiters when looking for candidates.
“The biggest way for me to lose interest in talking to you is if you ask me questions that are on the GE Health Care home page. If you come in and show that you have had no pre-work and you actually want me to think about giving you a job, you just dropped to the bottom of the list,” Quam said.
He said that many students have access to mobile devices and that it is important to spend at least 15 – 20 minutes researching a company that you are considering a job for.
The Career Fair had over 100 employers in the Ballroom and over 100 students attending. Marin Pechota, a sophomore in the College of Health Sciences, was one of these students, and she said it was her first career fair.
“I’m just kind of seeing what’s available to me in the area. Especially because I’m going to be a junior next year and I need to get those jobs on my list. I have my resume printed out and this is the first career fair I’ve ever gone to so I’m hoping it goes well. I’m just going to try and be confident and introduce myself,” Pechota said.
If students could not attend this fall’s career fair, another opportunity is still available. The Wisconsin Private College Career Consortium (WIPCCC) also hosts a career expo in February.
This story was written by Bridget Lisle. She can be reached at [email protected].
