More than 2,000 students visited booths that lined University Quad, many of them dressed in business suits and clutching resumes on crisp, eggshell-white paper.
Recruiters from a wide range of companies, including Xerox, Ready Pac Foods and Converse, greeted eager job seekers with smiles and handshakes at the annual Spring Career Fair. About 200 potential employers participated the April 27 event.
Tom Munnerlyn, director of the Career Center, says that of the 23 CSU campuses, Cal Poly Pomona ranks at the top in terms of recruiting. The university is in the top 10 for recruiting among schools such as USC, UCLA, Stanford, UC Davis and UC Berkeley, he adds.
“It’s our academics,” Munnerlyn says. “We’ve got diverse majors. There is not one wrong industry for us to welcome.”
The Career Center hosts eight fairs a year, with the fall and spring events open to all majors. The spring fair is the last one of the year and was kicked off with a breakfast for students and alumni, giving them an opportunity to meet prospective employers ahead of the main event.
Brandon Lim, a senior majoring in marketing and sales, came to the career fair hoping to find a job or internship in sales. He graduates after the fall quarter.
Lim says he likes the opportunity to meet and talk to recruiters.
“For us, we don’t know where to start, especially the millennial generation,” he says. “We get online and it’s overwhelming. You get to talk to job recruiters directly and know that the recruiters are hiring students. When you go online, they are hiring applicants.”
Michelle Saarinas, a senior biology student who is graduating this summer, is trying to figure out what career would best suit her. She wants to work in a team environment, perhaps in project management. She is interested in the environmental field, but also says she is passionate about community service.
“It’s very helpful,” she says of the job fair. “Going out and talking to people puts you in the challenge of finding what you really want to do.”