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Tuesday, March 26, 2024

Students flock to the Pavilion in hopes of jobs, internships

The Internship and Career Center hosts its quarterly fair

Hundreds of students packed into the ARC Pavilion on Wednesday, Feb. 27 to attend the Internship and Career Center’s 5th annual fair. Rows upon rows of companies filled the bottom floor of the Pavilion, with employers ready to talk to eager UC Davis students, primed and prepared to get summer internships and future jobs.

Events and Career Recruiting Program Assistant and Event Coordinator for the Internship and Career Center (ICC) Kathy Santana felt that the fair is a good opportunity for all students to gain valuable information on how to get jobs.

“I think it is a great opportunity for students to practice looking for jobs, talking to employers, all the stuff they are gonna wanna do when they graduate,” Santana said. “You know it is across the board, a lot of younger students come here to see what is going on and to practice their interviewing skills, but certainly a lot of seniors, majors across the board, a lot of engineers, a lot of business.”

Fourth-year genetics and genomics major Kirun Chohan had done her research on the companies she stood in line for and came prepared with 10 copies of her resume for prospective employers. She also attended two workshops on preparing for the fair and constructing an effective resume, put on by the ICC.

“Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc., is a technology company for biological science products like PCR, a lot of science products,” Chohan said. “This company [is a company I am interested in] probably because they have so many different products that I have used before, they might have something I can help with, I just want to get research and lab experience. I have talked to other employers.”

Just being at the fair is a great experience even if employers don’t have any jobs or internships at the ready because the connections made are invaluable.

“They are pretty helpful even if they don’t have anything, they still give you information if later on if they have something eventually,” Chohan said.

Third-year economics major Akshara Nair appreciated the fair because it is a good platform to personally interact with employers.

“It is more like a face-to-face platform, rather than just applying online and hoping you’ll get it, here you can talk to them and understand more about the role and the position,” Nair said. “It is really important for the student, actually, you get to know more about the role itself and get to decide then and there if you are going to be a perfect fit or not.”

Employers also have something to gain by this experience that the fair provides. Target representative Gabriella Serrato agreed with this statement.

“I think it is really beneficial and it is nice for us to get a better understanding of what students are looking for and for us to kind of explain what our positions entail, because we can only put so much on a postcard or on a website, so it is beneficial for us to express why we love Target so much.” Serrato said.

Even students who are critical of the fair acknowledge its overall value such as fourth-year chemical engineering major Joel Tinseth.

“[The fair is] more of a supplemental thing I found, I can’t imagine putting all of my chances in this event, but it definitely helps,” Tinseth said.

To find more information about summer internships or potential job opportunities be sure to check out the ICC’s website on future workshops and personal advising sessions.  Because like Joel Tinseth most of us “want a career.”

The ICC hosts career fairs quarterly, so for those who missed out on Winter Quarter’s installment, there are more opportunities to catch employers on April 17 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the Pavilion.

Written by: Isabella Beristain — features@theaggie.org

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