By Joe Johnson (The Cascade) – Email
Print Edition: March 14, 2012
Last week, a potentially life-changing event took place at the Envision Athletic Centre. It was UFV’s annual Career Fair. And for those students who weren’t there just for the free swag, like water bottles and SUS mints, it was a great chance to learn about career decisions.
There were a considerable number of concessions aimed at business students, and some schools aiming to recruit, but the fair managed to offer a fairly varied showing of companies. On the floor were CIBC, GoodLife Fitness, Costco Wholesale, Cultus Lake Waterpark and Fraser Health, to name a few.
Similar to the years before, not a lot was noticeably different. The layout was the same, aisles of different company concessions. It allowed for quick mini-information sessions, the ultimate purpose of the event. Students and alumni had the chance to learn about prospective employers and to see what they need to succeed in a chosen career path.
However, for as well-intentioned as the fair was, according to some students it missed the mark.
Attending the Career Fair was fourth-year business student Riley Weiss who was looking for something in marketing.
“I got one or two good contacts. I’m glad I went, but I don’t know if it was really, really useful,” said Weiss.
One suggestion by Weiss to improve the fair was to group the businesses by various university programs, “It would almost be better if they could segregate the businesses students, the crim students…” he noted.
Jennifer Romero, a UFV alumnus, was trying to find something related to non-profit program management. While she believed that the main advantage of the fair for her was the opportunity to network, she was ultimately disappointed in the Career Centre as she was left feeling unintentionally misled.
“One thing I didn’t like very much was that most of the organizations weren’t actually accepting resumes. It said on the UFV Career Centre website to bring lots of resumes. So, I did. But most of them weren’t taking resumes.”
However, Romero did recognize the usefulness of networking with the people she talked to.
“The reps that were there were very helpful in giving advice in how to get hired in their organization.”
In addition to the main focus of student-business interactions, there were presentations lined up throughout the day by different companies, students could partake in mock interviews to practice their skills, CIVL and SUS had their own booths set up, and there was a draw for an iPod shuffle and tuition credit. If students had pre-registered for the fair they would have also been in the running for an iPad.
The business representatives, in general, appreciated having the opportunity to come be a part of the Career Fair.
Sergeant Willie Merenick from Transit Police thought it was good, overall. “We spoke with a lot of Criminology students who had some real interest in being police officers, and had some really good questions. It’s refreshing because some of the places we go we don’t experience that.”
That same sentiment of success was shared by Brad Nastiuk a branch manager for St. John Ambulance who estimated that he saw somewhere between 60 and 70 people. Although, being a non-profit organization, it was a little different for him.
“We’re not usually the ones that are a big employer, because we’re a very small organization with local branches… But when we do have career opportunities, we’re always looking for an opportunity for instructors to teach our programs,” stated Nastiuk.
Peter Flengeris of The Cactus Club Cafe, however, wasn’t as enthusiastic about the amount of students who passed their booth at the event.
“I definitely think for us, at least, it would have been nicer to see a lot more people here. The first hour was good, and then after that it was just really slow.”
Flengeris also wasn’t entirely confident that they would return next year.
“Maybe, that’s something we’ll have to discuss. We’ll have to see the benefits from it, and just to make an educated decision whether it’s worth coming back again.”
