This Wednesday was the biannual Career Fair which had a myriad of students attending. With over a hundred and fifty vendors and students from every year attending, the P1FCU Arena’s field was full of potential prospects, according to Career Services.
The Career Fair was the end of the University of Idaho’s Career Week. Monday and Tuesday started the week with Resume Rush, where students can get feedback on their resumes and work on their elevator pitches for employers. This was followed by a Networking Night, a specialized event hosted by each college with companies and employers. Students could expect a wide range of companies to look for, geared toward most majors at the University.
Students have always viewed the Career Fair as a wide success with many new opportunities such as jobs and internships available to them.
“I actually got my past two internships from career fairs,” Megan Hill, a senior studying Forestry at the University, said.
“We went to the career fair last semester and got a couple of interviews,” Avery, a student pursuing a Master of Accountancy, said.
“I’ve met a lot of new companies that I didn’t know about, and I’ve gotten a lot of internship applications that I wouldn’t have known about if I hadn’t come to the Career Fair,” Sarah Pecha, a junior majoring in Chemical Engineering, said. “I wanted to see more opportunities, more companies and kind of get my feelers out there to see what industries I could go into.”
Audrey Hauss, a junior in Apparel, Textiles, and Design, added why she was attending the fair. “I really want to have a good chance of getting a job outside of college and skipping the step of going into an internship after college.”
When companies at the Career Fair were asked about what they were looking for, there was an overwhelming number of employers who were looking for outgoing students.
“We have had great success hiring Vandals for our journalism and business office jobs,” Jeff Hite, the Director of Recruiting for KHQ-TV, said. “[We like those who are] outgoing, conversational, and somebody that is comfortable talking to people.”
The Director of Engineering at the Exotic Metal Forming Division, a Division of Parker Aerospace, said something similar. “We have been coming here for the better part of a decade. We have about a million square feet of manufacturing in Washington State, so we are always looking for good, motivated, and energized young folks to join our team.”
“We are looking for out-of-the-box thinkers,” Emmett Minner from MWH Constructors said.
“Anyone with good social skills to interact with a client and problem solvers.”
When asked about why the company attended the fair, Philip Lohman, a Vandal Alum working for MWH Constructors, said, “I just love the University a lot.”
Career Services, who are running the event, also had a booth during the fair and were helping direct students and answer their questions. Megan Molly, a graduate student intern for Career Services, was running the booth.
“We have a pretty big career fair with about 150 employers and companies represented. We have got a lot to offer,” she said. “The preparation of this space and the particular timeline starts in the morning when employers come in and we basically start constructing this. Our team works really hard to establish relationships with these companies and ensure that they are there to provide opportunities for our students.”
The next Career Fair is set for next semester in the fall of 2024. Students who plan to attend should watch out for emails about the event from Career Services and update their resumes. For any help or questions, students can visit Career Services’ website: Career Services.