Seventy-seven organizations crammed booths into Carter Hall last Wednesday with the aim of attracting USI students to jobs, internships and other career paths. There were mixed responses from attendees on how beneficial the 12th Annual Career LINK Fair was.
Joseph Martin, who graduated from USI in May with a bachelor’s degree in accounting, attended to search for job leads.
“There seemed to be for a good mix (of businesses) for me,” Martin said. “But it seemed like they were offering mostly internships and not full-time jobs.”
The four-hour event, hosted by the Career Services and Placement Office, featured 58 businesses, 12 graduate schools, four non-profit agencies, two government agencies and one military branch. It attracted 560 students. Some students didn’t feel the event offered enough career paths specific to their majors.
“I was expecting to see a lot of stuff from prospective employers,” senior journalism major Mick Joest said. “I wanted to get my resume out there for potential jobs. I don’t know … I was kind of disappointed.”
Joest went on to say five job fliers are on the bulletin board in the basement of the Liberal Arts Building, but he saw just one of those companies at the event. Other students said the employers seemed to mostly target business and engineering majors – leaving liberal arts majors in the cold. Phil Parker, Director of Career Services and Placement Office, acknowledged those concerns.
“We would always like to see employers that are targeting liberal arts majors as well,” emailed Parker. “We are continuing to work on diversifying the types of employers.”
However, research shows job hiring specifically for liberal arts majors may be slowing. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics website provides a 2012 study on projected job growth.
It lists registered nursing as the occupation to most experience growth from 2010 to 2020 with 711,900 expected jobs added. Healthcare, retail, business and manufacturing jobs lead the list. Jobs traditionally associated with liberal arts degrees are increasing at low rates.
Melissa Dewig, a 2008 USI graduate and accounting major, works at SABIC in Mount Vernon, a plastics manufacturer. Dewig staffed its booth for the Career LINK Fair.
She said the fair helped her get an internship with SABIC when she was a senior and the internship led to her job.
“The fair is a great opportunity if you know what you’re looking for,” Dewig said. “We’ll definitely be returning next semester.” Parker believes the event will continue to grow.
“We don’t start the spring Career LINK Fair registration for a few months,” Parker said. “Interest seems to keep growing. If we need to find more space to accommodate more businesses, we’ll do it. We aren’t going to turn them down.”
