Students on campus are frantically preparing their resumes for an audience of over 190 employers as the Fall Job and Internship Fair rapidly approaches. However, an employer audience may not exist for students of all majors.
Jon Neidy, executive director of the Smith Career Center, explained the way Bradley goes about bringing in employers. According to Neidy, the Career Center maintains constant contact with over 4500 employers.
“We have a foundation document that we give to employers,” Neidy said. “This is the piece we use with a lot of companies to show some of the services we provide.”
In regards to the job and internship fair, Neidy said it just isn’t the right hiring environment for all types of employers.
“Companies that come to the job and internship fair are companies that typically hire more than one student a year, probably two, or three or four students a year,” Neidy said. “These are the kind of companies that hire in mass. The job and internship fair may not be the right fit for a company or major.”
While Neidy affirmed the fact that certain majors, such as art or theater majors, are less represented at the job and internship fair, he asserted that this isn’t because Bradley favors these majors any less.
“I think it’s important for art majors to understand that the jobs for art majors and the companies for art majors are not the kind of companies that recruit at job fairs,” Neidy said. “There’s a disconnect there. I think some students are under the impression that all companies recruit at job fairs and that’s just not the case.”
Students have mixed opinions about the employers attending the fair this year. Sophomore theatre arts major Sam Zucker said she isn’t interested in the fair.
“Usually only one or two theater employers go, so there isn’t really a point,” Zucker said.
Conversely, senior accounting major Aaron Zimmerman said he is excited to attend the fair.
“I could not be more thrilled about the opportunity to meet so many employers,” Zimmerman said.
Neidy explained the Career Center is taking the issue of certain majors being less represented very seriously.
“We take the time to go ‘Have we got representation for companies for majors that may not have always been at the job fair and are underrepresented?’” Neidy said.
Using graphic design students as an example, Neidy pointed out what the Career Center has been doing to assist students majoring in programs that cannot necessarily benefit as much from the job fair as other majors.
“We, as a result of recognizing that [underrepresentation at the job fair] in the career center, have instituted over the last couple of years, career road trips,” Neidy said. “We have been taking design students to design studios. It’s been in Chicago, it’s been in Peoria, and we are going to go to St. Louis.”
Neidy also explained that bringing students majoring in programs less applicable to job fairs on these trips will assist students in discovering job opportunities.
“We are taking groups of students to those locations to let them hear from the experts, and the people actually doing the hiring, how jobs are discovered,” he said. “I know there is a little mythology that all companies recruit at job fairs. They simply don’t. We’re trying to expose students to the ways their majors get recruited.”
Besides the Fall Job and Internship Fair, Neidy expressed the importance of other on-campus interviewing opportunities.
“We have companies that don’t come to the job fair, but do on-campus interviews,” Neidy said. “Sometimes it’s about the return on investment for companies. This is basically the pre-screening for who they’re going to talk to. Here [at the job fair] they have to talk to everybody, and it may not be worth their time.”
Employers who may not attend the job and internship fair or interview on campus use other channels to reach students.
“Some companies may not do the job fair because they can’t afford it, but do information sessions for students who are interested,” Neidy said. “A lot of companies will just list their jobs with us. We really try to push those jobs out to students and let them know what’s available.”
Bradley does not bring in just any employer to campus.
“We vet companies before we let them come to campus.” Neidy said. “An example would be if you’re a company who only works on commission, we don’t really let you recruit our students. We just don’t think that’s the right first job for students, or that a student will have the right skillset.”
Neidy clarified that the Career Center will not prohibit students applying for certain positions. “That doesn’t mean we won’t help a student get that job they want, but we’re not going to say ‘go work for that company.’”
According to Neidy, the Career Center works to ensure lasting relationships with employers.
“It’s not just about getting the companies here, it’s about maintaining relationships with them over time,” Neidy said. “We invest a lot of time and energy into maintaining relationships we have with companies by reaching out to them, checking in with them, making sure the students we sent to them are doing a good job. All of those things.”
The Fall Job and Internship Fair runs from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sept. 15 at the Renaissance Coliseum.
