On Friday, the Eastern Michigan University Advising and Career Development Center hosted an IT job fair in the Student Center. Representatives from 10 different companies set up individual stations in room 310 of the EMU Student Center. Students spoke with each of the representatives in an interview-like format.
The fair was limited to EMU juniors, seniors and alumni with specific interests in the field of computer science. Coordinator for this event and senior corporate relations manager for EMU, Mary Jane Fallot, spoke on the overall goal of the fair, saying that it was “to enable students to meet with employers regarding full-time permanent positions and internships.”
The organizations that were present varied from automotive insurance companies to Domino’s Pizza, all of them looking to fill IT positions. Many of the potential employers, such as the multinational media and information firm Thomson Reuters, were searching for applicants with majors in computer science along with an IT background.
However, some were open to a wider range of applicants. University of Michigan Health Systems representative Jarrod Sandal said there has been a lot of success with candidates of various backgrounds.
“They’ve come from backgrounds like health care and technology and other backgrounds like education, business and international studies,” Sandal said.
Participating in a job fair is a unique opportunity for both the applicants and the companies. For the organizations, fairs are a good and direct source of promotion as well as a more personal interaction with applicants. Sandal said the unfortunate thing about today’s society is a lot of people submit electronic resumes, which does not allow employers to know anything about those applicants other than what he or she reads on their resumes.
“Being here in person, I can have a quick conversation with them and kind of ascertain what your desires are and see if we would be a good fit,” Sandal said.
In addition to the personal interaction of a job fair, the candidates can have a higher chance of gaining employment by attending a fair with companies such as Thomson Reuters, which employs around 70 percent of their interns from job fairs.
The students that participated in the event enjoyed the opportunities that the fair offered. EMU junior and computer engineering technology major Eliada Ziraj said she enjoyed the IT job fair.
“I like it a lot, there are a lot of good opportunities for jobs, and I got a lot of information here,” she said.
