CSULB students expects apathy to hit Job Fair

By Alex Roman
Daily Forty Niner

While the job faire that is scheduled today is set to attract over 160 companies, an informal survey conducted by the Daily Forty-Niner leaves one wondering if anyone on campus is planning to attend.

"I probably won't go," said senior physiology major Mark Jones. "It doesn't fit into my schedule. I would have to come here for the job faire, then go home and come back later for my night class."

Those sentiments are echoed by many of the students at Cal State Long Beach. When asked, most students didn't even know that there was a job faire coming up.

"I don't know anything about it," said freshman Andrea Svenneby who's major is undeclared. "I guess I would go to check it out while I'm walking through, but I won't go out of my way or anything."

According to the fall 2000 Job Fair Coordinator Hal Schaffer, many students will be going out of their way on Tuesday.

"We expect about 1,500 to 2,000 students," Schaffer said.

Even though 2,000 is small compared to CSULB's 30,000-strong student body, Schaffer said he still believes the fair will be a success.

"We sent out 9,000 flyers and we expect about 2,000 of those people to come. I consider that good," he said.

With so many employers scheduled to be at the fair and 2,000 students expected to attend, students still have their reasons for not attending.

"I just don't think there'll be any employers that relate to my field," said athletic training junior Ken McCall. "I think that certain fields might not have the adequate representatives."

Freshman industrial design major Saman Iman agrees.

"I probably won't go," she said. "If I was sure they had something for me, I probably would go though."

This reasoning might be expected from campus with a 1 percent voting turnout for campus elections, but Schaffer said he understands the students' concerns.

"I think students are being a bit prudential," he said. "Students just aren't willing to take something that's not part of their field."

Schaffer's statements seem to be right on track.

"I think people are looking for specific jobs," said Jacqueline Rayes, a history major with aspirations of teaching. "After the four or five years or whatever that people put in, nobody wants to work at UPS."

One student interviewed not only planned on attending, but seemed a bit excited.

"I'm going for sure," said Freshman Vicente Lopez. "I want to get a car, so I need to find a job so I can pay for it."

Regardless of students' excuses as to why they won't attend, Schaffer is optimistic that this year's job faire will be more successful than other years.

"Since we've moved inside, I think the turnout will be much better than when we have it outside, because nobody will be there by accident" he said. "We have over 160 companies with about 5,000 full or part-time jobs, as well as internships, so there will be something for everyone who wants to be there."