Intern
fair offers path to success
By Akiko Sugimori
On-line Forty-Niner
There
is an opportunity to find internships at
the Internship and Volunteer Fair today
from 10 a.m. through 2 p.m. in the University
Student Union Ballroom held by the Career
Development Center at Cal State Long Beach.
“I would suggest that students who are looking
for internships make up their resume to
be able to hand out before going to the
fair,” Ruby Hartley, career counselor at
the Career Development Center said.
According to her, this internship and volunteer
fair is for current undergraduate and graduate
students who are searching for or interested
in a summer or fall internship. It
is also available for students who wish
to find internships in the future or have
no idea what the internships are about.
Attending the Internship and Volunteer Fair
will enable students to network with companies
and learn about available internships.
Ran Pham, senior management and information
system major said, “I’m going to apply to
the Transportation Foundation of Los Angeles,
but I also want to see what other companies
are coming and if they have any available
internship positions that I’ll be interested
in.”
The Internship and Volunteer Fair provides
an opportunity to forward resumes for more
than 70 companies and nonprofit organizations.
Some of the companies that will be represented
at the fair are American Honda Motors, Enterprise
Rent-A-Car, Long Beach Museum of Art, Vivendi
Universal Games and YMCA.
“The majority of companies are non-profit
and around 10 are corporate companies,”
Beverly Ballesteros, junior communication
studies major and internship advisor said.
Go there and talk to them, and they might
set up interview at that time or later on.
Students should attend the fair with an
appropriate outfit, such as business type
of style, to look like professional and
to make a good impression.”
According to the Career Center, job fairs
including the Internship and Volunteer Fair
can be used in a variety of ways to enhance
students’ search effort. They also
bring a large number of organizations and
a greater number of students together for
one day. Students can apply not only
companies that they are interested in but
they can also meet with new or less familiar
companies and discover unexpected opportunities.
To attend the fair, students should plan
to arrive early to allow themselves enough
time to meet with the maximum number of
companies or organizations, and collect
business cards to follow up with recruiters
of interest.
“After introducing yourself at the fair,
students should e-mail or send thank you
notes to all recruiters that you contacted
to appreciate their help and to demonstrate
continued interest,” Ballesteros advises.
After the fair, students should use a variety
of job search strategies in addition to
job fairs to round out their search.
Also the Career Center wishes students to
return to their office to complete a student
survey. Students’ comments are useful
in planning next fairs and will help other
students who are going to attend job fairs
in the future.
In order to identify participating companies
and available position prior to the event,
log on to www.careers.csulb.edu.
|
