“You secure one internship, and it gives you experiences that qualify you for a better internship, which qualifies you for that job you’re really hoping for, or diversifies the jobs that you qualify for,” Assistant Director of Calling and Career Amber Stanley said.
One of the easiest ways to find an internship or a job out of college is to attend a career fair where companies are looking to find new employees.
The Calling and Career Office is hosting a career fair on Oct. 20th from 11 to 2 PM in the Boren Student Center.
This year it does overlap with Homecoming weekend, but the hope is that this will bring in more people.
“We're really intentional about holding the fair the same week as Homecoming, because it encourages alumni who are coming back to represent their organizations. This approach has provided great traction from former Taylor grads,” Stanley said.
This year's fair has 67 different organizations, which is the most that have ever been included in this event. There will be everything from tech companies to summer camps present.
“Some noteworthy organizations attending the fair include Chick-fil-A Corporate, Sweetwater Sound, Compassion International, Samaritan's Purse — those are student favorites,” Stanley said.
Often, students will only come to a career fair if they are looking for an internship or job after college.
Students are encouraged to come to career fairs so they can connect with people and companies that they would not meet otherwise.
“It’s a really good opportunity just to network with more companies and make those connections. A lot of times there are going to be companies that you might not even know about there,” senior CCO intern Maddie Russell said.
For those who want to come to the fair but are unsure of what happens after they connect with a company, the following steps would be to get the company’s contact information and follow up with them. Students should thank companies for their time and express interest in hearing more from said company or organization.
Students may have multiple questions about career fairs, but there is one that is commonly asked.
“I would like to know what specific jobs are going to be there,” freshman Elijah Ladd said.
The Calling and Career Office has resources for students who want to know what companies will be in attendance ahead of time.
Students can view the event on Handshake and see all the employers along with what each organization does so they can map out their trip.
“I encourage students to have three organizations in mind that they want to engage with, and an idea of what type of role they're looking for and what they hope that organization could offer them,” Stanley said. “But to keep an open mind and just know that representatives from the CCO will be at the fair all day to help them navigate.”
The fair is planned mostly by Stanley, who has twelve interns that help her set up the fair, including Russell, who is helping market the event by making posters and creating social media posts.
Russell herself was impacted personally last year as the organization she interned for over the summer was present at last year’s career fair.
“I think that students should just definitely take advantage of it, because it's such a good opportunity to be able to get some face-to-face connections with companies,” Russell said. “So I would just encourage every student to at least just check it out and just walk through it.”
Whether a first-semester freshman or a senior about to graduate, this career fair could help shine a light on what the future could hold.
