Yesterday, the Renaissance Coliseum held a record number of 160 employers at a single recruiting event at the Fall Job & Internship Fair hosted by the Smith Career Center.
“I’m really excited about this job fair,” said Jane Linnenburger, Executive Director of the Smith Career Center. “We even had two last-minute registrations. They are all very excited to be here and they have jobs they need to fill. Bradley students handle themselves very well at these kinds of events, so I’m looking forward to see what they do.”
Rick Smith, Director of Career Development of the Smith Career Center, said the large number of employers is beneficial to all students of every major.
“The number of employers that came through is great,” said Smith. “It’s been a very diverse group of type of employers. [The diverse group] will look out for all majors, and [some employers] are looking just for the specific colleges.”
Linnenburger said 1,095 job-seekers attended the event, including 24 alumni. In fact, alumni were prominent at the fair; of the 395 registered employer representatives 160 of them were Bradley alums.
“I met with a lot of good companies here,” said sophomore mechanical engineering major Dylan Fawcett. “There were a lot of Bradley alumni here. It shows that once you’re at Bradley, you never really leave. You can always come back [and help students out].”
United Airlines was among the alumni employers, and the company attended the fair for the first time this year.
“One of our managing directors is a grad from Bradley,” said United Airlines senior internal auditor Chris Moten. “[Coming to Bradley] will open our pool to candidates who we never would have looked at before. Plus, it shows the quality of Bradley students and that they’re up to par for us, since one of our directors graduated from this school.”
Another company who employs Bradley alumni was Red Frog Events.
“[Some of the other Red Frog representatives] are Bradley alums,” said Red Frog Events coordinator Brian Durbin. “So this fair is important to us. We want to reach out to students. We’re hoping to get fresh ideas from a fresh perspective.”
Students said the large number of employers present at the fair gave plenty of opportunities.
“The fair is good, but it’s overwhelming,” said junior construction major Ian Dela Cruz. “I am looking at about 15 booths for internships, and there are even more construction companies here which is great for my major.”
Senior mechanical engineering major Jeremy Bethke said some job opportunities weren’t available directly at the fair.
“I’m looking for a full-time job, but with a lot of employers it’s hit or miss,” he said. “A lot them ask you to apply online and not here.”
Despite the troublesome job market today, Smith said the fair was helpful to all students who attended.
“I’m optimistic for the students [after this fair],” he said. “It’s good to have this many employers coming in to campus for both full-time jobs and internships. It’ll be good for the students because of the large, diverse group we have.”
