UC Students Score at the Big East Career Fair
 

Despite UC Basketball's short stay in the Big East Tournament, UC seniors who ventured to New York for The Big East Career Fair scored well with East Coast employers, while trying to land their dream job in the Big Apple. The career fair was a major, national event involving 16 Career Centers from Big East Colleges and Universities, including UC's Career Development Center (CDC). As one of the newest college entrants into the Big East and its Career Fair, UC students and CDC staff did not know exactly what to expect other than that the event would be BIG!

Held in Madison Square Gardens, amid the basketball tournament finals, 2,414 students registered for the event including 57 UC students or alumni. With 81employers registered and over 30 wait-listed to participate, the lines formed early and long for students to meet with new and traditional companies such as: Align Communications, Coca Cola, Computer Science Corporation, Frito Lay, Goldman Sachs, Johnson and Johnson, L'Oreal and Universal Music Group. Universal Music, the largest music producing company in the world, was, by far the most popular attracting long lines of students interested in being in the entertainment industry, with jobs for a variety of majors from marketing and accounting, to communications and human resources.

The Career Development Center, Office of Enrollment Services and Student Affairs & Services collaborated to sponsor two students to attend the Big East Career Fair. Senior students registered with CDC were eligible for selection. The winners, Adam Hildebrand and Timothy Murphy were selected because their essays confirmed that they were interested in working on the East Coast or in connecting with employers who do not currently recruit at UC who were scheduled to participate. One of the students sponsored had realistic expectations of this kind of event and scored well. The feedback from the other sponsored student, though less positive, showed that preparation is key for students to benefit from national events such as the Big East Career Fair:

Adam wrote, “It was fantastic! It was very well organized and offered a wide variety of options for students from a range of majors. I managed to find ten companies which I knew I wanted to approach.” He further reported that, “With the career fair you knew they (the companies) were looking to fill a specific position, and you really had a chance to get that position. You basically got a 2-minute interview.”

Tim wrote, “The Big East Career Fair was both rewarding and disillusioning.” Tim further stated, “Companies who attended the career fair, only about fifteen (by my count) were seeking people for finance positions. Fewer still were offering positions in a field I am actually interested in working in. Tim concluded, “On the usefulness of sending UC students to that particular fair each year, I think it would give Midwest-bound students a valuable exposure to the big city.”

According to CDC's Director, Linda Bates Parker, "Our students are learning what it takes to compete in the big time. To score well, our students must review the list of participating employers very carefully before attending to be sure that there is more than one participating employer of specific interest to them and interested in their majors. They must anticipate long lines and some glitches as employers negotiate getting their materials to Madison Square Gardens amid New York morning rush hour, heightened security and other big events at the Gardens, including a basketball tournament! Career fairs are not tailored to address every career interest -- employer participation is market-driven and not determined by the Career Center planners. Our UC students must also be willing to seek out new employers whom they may never have heard of, but who may be interested in their major, to uncover exciting new career opportunities."

Currently, CDC and UC students are participating in the Big East E-Fair. For more information or to participate in the E-Fair until April 17th, go to CDC's website www.uc.edu/career.

From the Career center's perspective, these events link CDC directly to a number of new employers or employers who have previously recruited at UC, but are not currently, including the US Department of Health who was trying to fill 400 jobs due to the potential Asian flu epidemic, Eli Lilly who has already come on campus since the event to re-establish their recruiting at UC and others. CDC will continue to be involved in both Big East Career Fairs to continue to access career opportunities for UC students.

Next Spring's Career Fair at Madison Square Gardens expects to attract even more employers and more UC students, including those prepared enough to score valuable career points at the Big East, so stay tuned!

For more information, contact Patti Carroll at Patricia.Carroll@uc.edu