Students and Recruiters meet at Career Fair

The Student Life section of Utah State Today highlights work written by the talented student journalists at Utah State University. Each week, the editor selects a story that has been published in The Utah Statesman or the Hard News Café or both for inclusion in Utah State Today. Any comments or questions should be submitted to the student publications.

Students and Recruiters meet at Career Fair

By Levi Henrie in The Utah Statesman, Thursday, October 23, 2014

Students and recruiters from more than 80 companies met Wednesday [Oct. 22, 2014] at the Fall Career Fair, hosted by USU Career Services and the Jon M. Huntsman School of Business. The event, which was held in the Taggart Student Center [Stevenson] ballroom, was attended by more than 700 students.

Reactions from students ranged from stating that they may have encountered their future job, to simply saying that they now know what’s out there. Overall, most students said they found the Career Fair useful.

“How can you know if you’re interested in working for a company until you talk to them?” said Riley Duke, an MBA student from Ogden. “This gives students an opportunity to learn about some job opportunities, and also to meet some of the employers. You have little to lose from it.”

The representatives also spoke of the need to see prospective employees face to face, and saw the Career Fair as an opportunity to do so with many students in a short period of time.

“We might get as many as 20 candidates and eventually we’ll end up hiring one,” said Rosi Miranda, human relations manager for Cintas Corporation. “This allows us to meet lots of people in a small amount of time. We were only here a few hours but (without the Career Fair) this could take a month.”

Miranda also spoke of her company’s search for “perfect” candidates to fill their available positions. This focus on the company and employee being a good “fit” was shared by the students as well.

“The good thing is that everyone here is looking for us just like we’re looking for them,” said Katherine Dupree, a graduate student.

“It depends on their attitude and their personality” said Duke. “Some of them are a little bit more like me and that’s where I want to work.

The Spring Career Fair will be held Feb. 25 in the TSC ballroom.

-levi.henrie@aggiemail.usu.edu