Employers
come to CSULB for diversity, employees
By Kristen Wooley
On-line Forty-Niner
Thirty-eight
companies will be represented at the Diversity
Career Expo on Thursday, the final job fair
scheduled until next fall.
The focus of the expo is to try to allow
employers to meet with a more diverse group
of students, such as the population at Cal
State Long Beach, and try to mimic that
diversity in the work place, said Peggy
Hayden, coordinator of on-campus interviewing
at the Career Development Center.
“Everyone is welcome, but it’s also celebration
of the diversity on campus,” Hayden said.
Students are encouraged to dress professionally,
equipped with their resumes, and prepare
for a morning of workshops and a day to
network with employers and set up interviews.
“This is our last job fair before graduation,”
Hayden said. “For some students, if they
haven’t made a connection, this is an opportunity
to make that connection. Another reason
to attend is that there is a certain wealth
to our campus that is the diversity.”
She said that employers are making a statement
to be there showing that they want a more
diverse work force.
There will be a variety of workshops held
in the morning, starting at 9. Some are
for the employer and some are for the students,
Hayden said.
“One of the student workshops is going to
be a panel of students that have gone through
some of the recruiting that’s been going
on on campus,” Hayden said.
“These
are students who have interviewed and some
of whom have gotten jobs because of a job
fair. They have also gotten contacts while
they networked at the last expo.”
Hayden said that this year is expected to
be better than last year’s expo.
“There were several hundred students that
came to last year’s expo,” Hayden said.
“It seems to be a popular event. We had
a good turnout and we are hoping for the
same this year.”
A student alum that has attended several
of the job fairs on campus over the years,
thinks differently.
“I think that back in 1999 and 2000, the
job fairs were more successful for me because
I got a job through networking there,” said
Puong Le, a student alumni.
“Last year the employers seemed a little
more impersonal. Maybe because of the market
being so bad and the bad economy, I think
last year didn’t go as well.”
Le also said he believed that the on campus
interview program was the main key to getting
work and the job fairs acted more as a supplement
to finding employment.
The success of students getting job placement
after the job fairs is hard to track, Hayden
said, but said she knows the Career Development
Center has helped several students who attended.
“I did some calling at the end of fall semester
and I got some raw numbers,” Hayden said.
“I think of about 20 employers that called
me back, they had hired about 31 students
from the last job fair and the on campus
interview program.”
|
