Career fair exposes students to global opportunities

A career fair that focuses on non-governmental organizations and intergovernmental organizations will take place for the second consecutive year from 1 to 3 p.m. today at the Whittenberger Auditorium in the Indiana Memorial Union.

The first part of the day, from 9 to 11:30 a.m., provides students with one-on-one interviews with the panelists. The afternoon will feature a question-and-answer session with speakers from Wikimedia, Heartland Alliance, Save the Children and International Rescue Committee.

Jennifer Schepers, assistant director at the Career Development Center, said the event was organized to provide students with a concrete opportunity. She said students in the College of Arts and Sciences like to donate their time to the community.

“Every year we try to look at what students are interested in,” Schepers said. “Ideally, students can have conversations and can start networking and pursuing opportunities on their own.”

Jessie Wild, a 2007 IU graduate, is one of the panelists at the event. Wikimedia is a nonprofit organization that runs the website Wikipedia. Wild participates in a team that works with developing countries.

“I’ve always been really interested in international development,” Wild said. “Wikimedia is an organization that does an awesome job of bringing information to people for free.”
She said when she was at IU, she had to find these opportunities on her own.
“I am really excited they are doing an event like this,” Wild said. 

Wild said she hopes to give students information and help them realize there are organizations that exist solely to better the world.

She added that Wikipedia has information available in more than 270 languages, and the information is contributed by volunteers from around the world. She said that in various countries, people do not have access to many resources.

“We get them access to information they haven’t previously had access to,” she said.
Wild said she is currently working on a version of offline Wikipedia for people without Internet access.

Wikimedia is also trying to encourage users to write articles in their native languages.
In some classrooms in the United States, students have been required to write Wikipedia articles for class. Wild said there is a new initiative to start this in Brazil, with six classes participating in this project this semester.

Senior and international studies major Alexsandra Buckner is a Global Careers intern and helped research and select the panelists for the event.

“I reached out to everybody you could possibly imagine,” she said. “It’s important to me to find organizations that use money wisely.”

Buckner said the panelists will speak about their experiences. She said many of them have worked in other countries. Buckner said NGOs and IGOs are organizations many international studies students hope to work for.

“NGOs do the job governments don’t do,” she said. “NGOs are becoming the forefront of what people want to get into.”

She said these organizations have started to become more involved with social media and that she likes to read tweets from her favorite organizations.
 
“Even if you’re not interested in NGOs, it’s a great event to go to,” she said. “You meet people from all over the country. Really take this opportunity to listen to what people have to say. Sometimes listening is the most valuable thing.”

She said she chose to become an intern because she wanted to obtain more global experience.

“I think it’s important that people become involved not just in community but globally,” she said. “If you want to be in the forefront helping people, this is the way to go.”
Interested students can sign up at IUCareers.com