Bringing the jobs to you

Kayla Webley
2004-04-14
The Daily

If trekking around town searching for "help wanted" signs is getting you discouraged, the UW's Career Fair could be the solution to your tired legs.

According to Maureen Crawford, assistant director of the Center for Career Services, 86 employers will be attending the fair, seeking all types of students.

"The fair is for all majors, all degree levels," she said. "There are over 80 companies, right now we have 86."

The fair, sponsored by the career center, is being held tomorrow from 6 to 9 p.m. in the HUB Ballroom.

According to Crawford, there are a number of things students should do before attending the fair.

"Students should have an idea of what they are looking for, who they want to talk to, so they can walk in the door with some sort of plan, because with 86 companies in that big ballroom it can be kind of overwhelming and you want to use your time well," said Crawford.

To prepare for the fair, which showcases career opportunities, internships and summer jobs, Crawford suggests doing a little homework.

"Students should do some research," she said. "They should also come with about 30 copies of their resume and they should have some sort of personal sales commercial, a way of introducing themselves, letting the employer know what they bring and what they are looking for."

Companies attending the fair include Sound Transit, Frito-Lay and the Defense Intelligence Agency.

"We have a great Web site where students can see all of the companies coming, they can do a search, they can look for all the companies that are requesting business majors or English majors, or they can search by industry," said Crawford.

The participating employers have overviews of their companies on the career center's Web site. Some companies also include statistics about hiring plans or positions they are seeking to fill. For them, the fair offers a wealth of potential employees.

"Going to a college career fair that has a lot of students coming in is generally very successful," said Robin Reed, who represented Northwestern Mutual Financial Network at past fairs. "We get a lot of qualified candidates from a larger campus like the UW."

In addition to the Web site, the career center will also have additional sessions for students seeking preparation prior to the fair.

"We do a workshop on how to prepare for a career fair; there we go into more detail about how to do that introduction. We are doing several of those before the career fair," Crawford said.

The career center will also be making additional staff available to serve walk-ins every day from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. Crawford recommends students use that time to get a 15-minute resume check.

"Some common things that we hear from employers that are the top skills that they are looking for are the critical skills: critical thinking and problem solving, teamwork and communication," she said. "Those are skills that, regardless of the field, employers are looking for."

To learn more visit the Center for Career Services' Web site at http://depts.washington.edu/careers/