Recruiters crowd campus for various specialized career fairs

The Career Development Center will sponsor its Fall Career Fair from 4 to 8 p.m. today in Alumni Hall in the Indiana Memorial Union.

In addition to today’s fair, this week will also feature smaller events from a select number of individual schools. The Kelley School of Business will sponsor a Marketing Career Fair from 4 to 8 p.m. Thursday, also in Alumni Hall. An IT Career Fair took place Tuesday for technology specializations.

This is the first year Career Services has sponsored a consolidated career fair spanning all majors. Patrick Donahue, director of Career Services, said in the past career services had several smaller, more specific fairs instead.

The changes, Donahue said, reflect major shifts made in the culture of first-time job hunting over the past 20 years.

“It used to be that people would, quite frankly, not do that much career planning until after spring break,” Donahue said.

That has changed as accounting and consulting companies started recruiting in the fall and other industries followed suit.

The IU fair will feature about 90 employers, looking to fill both full-time and internships positions.

Employers range from Fortune 500 companies to Bloomington’s backyard companies such as Cook, Inc. and Baxter Biopharma Solutions.

Because the event has something to offer students in all majors, Donahue said Career Services expects around 2,000 students to visit the IMU.

Conan Zhang, a senior in the school of business, said career fairs are a good chance for students to learn about companies from their employees. Getting face time with recruiters is important, he said, because people can offer insights about a company that websites don’t offer.

One advantage, he said, of such a large fair is the wide range of options for students.

“Regardless of your major or interest, companies hire people from all areas,” Zhang said. “So even if you don’t think your major will fit with a company, you should talk to them just to find out.”

Donahue also pointed to how career fairs can be instrumental in helping students find
potential internships.

“The number one way that students find full time jobs now is through internships,” he said.

— Danielle Rindler