The College of Agriculture and Life Sciences broke last year’s career expo record this year, with 1,411 students in attendance, surpassing last year’s attendance by over 1,000 students. 85 different organizations set up camp in the Talley Ballroom to market and discuss experience and job opportunities with interested students of any major.
For 19 years, CALS Career Services has produced their own career expo, bringing interested organizations and hopeful students together.
The director of Career Services for CALS, Marcy Bullock, said she was hoping for a record- breaking year after last year’s large turnout.
“We’re hoping students will come out…it’s a great chance for students to ask employers questions about what they’re looking for…[and] anyone with any major is welcome,” Bullock said.
Before the CALS career fair, students were encouraged to become knowledgeable about the companies they were interested in talking with. In terms of resumes, students were advised to write a professional summary of what kind of internship they are looking for, and make sure it promoted their individuality and skill sets.
“The latest, greatest thing is to write a professional summary about yourself in three lines. Don’t just say you want an internship…use about three adjectives to describe your skills, showing the company how you would be a useful asset,” Bullock said. “After you meet an employer at the career fair, make sure to follow up with the people you were impressed with.”
For prospective employers, the career expo served as a wonderful tool to find potential interns and employees from many undergraduate areas.
Sharon Griffin, supervisor of in Cyto genetics at LabCorp, talked about her organization’s prospects. Although students with a scientific background have more options with LabCorp, other majors are encouraged to look at open positions that may cater to other educational histories.
Griffin said, “Our facility itself is more for chemistry, biological sciences, [and] animal sciences… [but] we do have a wide variety of [other] opportunities.”
Thai Xiong, a senior in agricultural business management, attended the career expo; although his educational background deals with management, he was still able to talk to many employers about internships.
“The event was very helpful. There are numerous companies here, so the employment opportunities are really great,” said Xiong.
When he saw representatives from so many organizations, Xiong also said he ended up speaking with companies he had not thought of before, broadening his post graduate horizons.
“I saw the USDA Statistics Department and didn’t know what it was all about…but now I think it’s very interesting after having a good, long talk with them,” Xiong said. “This [was] actually my first time attending. I should have come last year because it’s really helpful…everyone I have talked to has been very helpful and has tried to guide me along my career pathway.”
Employee Development Manager Stacy Bond recruits students for the family-owned business Murphy Family Ventures. Because the business has many divisions within its infrastructure, Bond said she furthered the call for students with differing backgrounds and interests.
Bond said there is need for such educational diversity within the business. Different majors are required for different jobs.
”For the golf course, we mainly bring in turf grass or horticulture students. We look for culinary or hotel management students for the restaurant. For the swine division, we look for any kind of agricultural science or animal science,” Bond said.
Bond also talked of the different classifications of students she met, highlighting the growing number of freshman she conversed with who were scoping out the fair to asses information about potential internships.
“I’ve had seniors, juniors, and sophomores, but this year in this career fair I’ve seen more freshmen than I have in years past, [which] is excellent, because even though they may not know what they want to do yet, they’re looking for opportunities,” Bond said.
