Career and internship fair coming to IMU Wednesday

As many as 85 organizations will meet with potential employees and interns at the College of Arts and Sciences Winter Career and Internship Fair Wednesday.

Twenty-one of the organizations will conduct on-campus interviews the next day, said Alan Gusse, recruitment coordinator for the college’s career services.

The fair will take place from 3 to 7 p.m. Wednesday for students from diversity groups and with scholarships, and from 4 to 7 p.m for all students of all majors in Alumni Hall of the IMU.

Gusse said government agencies, financial institutions, retail and a variety of other businesses and employers will be represented at the fair.

Gusse said retail organizations such as Abercrombie and Fitch and financial institutions such as Aflac and Liberty Mutual will be the most common types of businesses in attendance.

He said the employers’ goal is to create awareness of their brand on campus.
Students benefit by learning about what organizations are hiring, he said, and getting the opportunity to try and sell themselves to potential employers in a face-to-face
interaction.

It will help students to prepare for the event in advance, Gusse said.

Ideally, students should take a career development class or go to a drop-in advising meeting with the career development staff on their own time.

“Do the research,” Gusse said. “That’s the most important part.”

For this event however, Gusse said they will be offering on-site career advising in the Solarium during the fair, in case students have any questions or need help preparing their “two minute elevator pitch,” or the short speech students use to sell themselves to potential employers in a brief amount of time.

He said students should check online for the career fair guidebook — found at ascs.indiana.edu — and research the organizations themselves to see what roles they may be interested in for each group.

Gusse said this fair is especially beneficial to students who will be graduating in the spring, but are still looking to line up a job.

And he said in a tough economic time like this, every face-to-face interaction counts
and makes an applicant a real person rather than just a résumé.

“Networking is the most important part of the job search,” Gusse said.

— Amanda Marino