An increase in the number of companies present at the UA Spring Career Days fair and a new hashtag students can use to tweet about the event make up the latest effort from UA Career Services to increase student turnout and involvement.
Students are able to reap the benefits of 25 more companies than last year recruiting at the fair Tuesday and today. This is the first year Career Services has seen such a jump in companies participating, according to Eileen McGarry, director of Career Services. The number of tables occupied by companies has increased to almost 200, added Susan Miller-Pinhey, special events manager for Career Services.
This year students are also able to share their experiences at the career fair with the use of the hashtag #LastChanceFair.
“It’s kind of cool, and we would love to have students go in and tweet photos on Instagram or whatever,” Miller-Pinhey said. “The more energy we can put into that, the better.”
To inform students about new opportunities with new companies, Career Services also added a
“New to the U” list, which is available on the Career Services website.
Some students said they recognized the changes in the career fair this semester.
“I actually did notice [the new companies in] this career fair, so I think that really helps,” said Sellena Urias, a mechanical engineering junior who has attended two or three career fairs in the past. “The Industry Expo had the really big companies like Raytheon, but this one had companies that I’ve never heard of before.”
Ravi Garg, an aerospace engineering senior, said he doesn’t find career fairs very useful because engineering jobs usually have online applications. However, the fact that at a career fair he can learn about many available positions — rather than giving someone his resume and talking to them to get a job — is a plus, he added.
Garg also said he noticed newer companies looking for employees.
“A lot of the smaller companies that no one really goes to actually have good positions available, and it’s actually a lot less competition than the big companies like Boeing,” Garg said.
McGarry also said there was more good news for students because, due to an “uptick in the economy,” employers are looking to hire more students.
“Now we’re hearing, ‘We’re expanding; we’re doubling it; we’re going from 10 to 20,’” McGarry said. “That’s encouraging news for students.”
Freeport-McMoRan recruiter Rebecca Collins said that the company, a leader in the copper industry, is experiencing a growth spurt.
“Our internships have grown over the last two years,” Collins said. “Last year there was 233, and this year we currently had 272 internships.”
Today is the last day for students to seek employment opportunities at the fair.
“The lines [of students], we’d like to see more,” Miller-Pinhey said. “Tell them we’d like them to come.”
