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careers
Job Fair getting
bigger every year
By Lisa Cottini
Special to the On-line
Forty-Niner
The Career Development
Center has provided Cal State Long Beach students with the
opportunity to mingle among potential employers for the 26th
consecutive year.
The Job Fair has
come a long way, from 79 companies the first year to more
than 170 this year.
"The fall event
used to be a more informational event, now it is more of a
recruiting event," said Peggy Murphy Hayden, co-coordinator
of the Job Fair. "We have always had a lot of technical companies
[and] this year we have something for everyone."
Added Jina Lee
Flores, job developer at the CDC and co-coordinator of this
year's Job Fair: "Enterprise, Buckeye, Eli Lilly, Mercury
and Parker Aerospace, to name a few, have been coming to job
fairs at CSULB for years, helping make it one of the largest
in the California State University program."
Murphy Hayden is
always looking for ways to improve the fair.
"In the future
we may have a job fair targeted toward more specific areas
of study, she said, "working close with colleges on campus
to select employers that are specific to the major, rather
than having two big events.
Measuring the success
of the Job Fair isn't always easy.
"Some [students]
consider it a success when they hand their resume out to an
employer and the get an interview out of it," Murphy Hayden
said. "Employers are happy if they get results from hiring
qualified candidates during the day they spend on campus.
It's a good day if the students and employers are happy."
Adds alumna Katie
Gahagan: "I always had good practice at the Job Fair. The
first hand experience of talking to possible employers and
getting feed back on my resume has always been helpful.
"I found my job
because of a conversation I had at the Job Fair. You never
know what kind of impression you leave on people."
There has been
talk of the CDC moving into a virtual online job fair.
"It is going to
happen," Murphy Hayden said. "We are working to bring our
services closer to the students. A virtual job fair would
make it easier for both the students and employers. For now
we will stick with what has worked over the past 26 years,
and continue to take the feedback of everyone involved."
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