The winter semester at Oakland University is well underway as students prepare for midterm exams and plan for the future. One of the most anticipated events, the Winter Career Fair, provided students with a safe, professional and welcoming environment on Feb. 5 from noon to 3 p.m.
The annual event allowed students to meet at the Oakland Center and talk with 85 employers that ranged from engineering companies to law firms and various other industries. Over 800 students attended the event, interested in possible internships or employment options in the fields of “business, engineering, computer science, information technology, liberal arts and human resources.”
“It was very inspiring and productive. I was able to go around and put myself out there with all the different companies. I mean, my favorite was Rocket. So, I went there first,” student Ailin Collins said. “Definitely worth waiting in line for Rocket Companies.”
DTE Energy, Challenge Detroit, Blue Cross Blue Shield and MAHLE were some of the employers present at the fair. The companies present at the event were part of the automation, educational and healthcare industries with some more specialized ones like pest control, renewable energy and investment industries.
Many students were seen waiting in line at the booths hours before the allocated interview time. The Career and Life Design Center (CLDC) encouraged students to use the Handshake App before and during the event to research employers. QR codes at each booth also allowed for easy exchange of information between students and employers with a personalized list of connections.
“It’s great, a lot of people showed up a lot better than the last one,” senior Jason Midulla said. “A lot of great companies were here and a lot of [CLDC] people were helping out, walking around, talking to [attendees].”
Similar to the Fall Career Fair, the event hosted a couple of afternoon hours to allow students to wander from booth to booth of the various companies represented. After 3 p.m., students were invited to onsite interviews for further discussion on their future careers.
“While face-to-face interaction can be stressful, it offers valuable insight to the real-life experience of the interviews or a work environment, so the Career Fair was a good way to prepare for future job applications,” Midulla explained.
Participating employers attending career fair offered first-hand knowledge to the up-and-coming professionals at OU.
“I definitely think a lot of students took the opportunity to come up to us individually, showed their confidence and showed the skills and education they learned at Oakland University and how they can implement it into the field,” Thomas Demers, a representative of Sherwin Williams, said.
The CLDC hosts three large-scale career fairs to targeted majors each academic year and several smaller career fairs, including the March 14 Exploration Fair: Opportunities in Healthcare and Natural Sciences. This event is open to School of Health Sciences, School of Nursing, and College of Arts and Sciences natural science students.
The various fairs give students multiple opportunities to find different employment locations and internship experiences. “Yes, if I don’t land that internship, I’ll definitely try again,” Collins said before leaving for her own interview slot time.
For more information about future career fairs visit the Career and Life Design Center’s Handshake page or their office at 103 North Foundation Hall.
