Students of popular majors disappointed with career fair

The Spring Career and Internship Fair took place Thursday, Jan. 26 in de Witt Hall. The Career Center signed in 95 students representing the five schools that were given the opportunity to speak with representatives from over 30 companies.

According to U.S. News, Lasell’s top four majors include Communication, Sport and Fitness Administration, Criminology, and Fashion Merchandising.

Director of the Center for Career Readiness and Internship Programs Donnell Turner said that several faculty members encouraged students to attend the fair.

“...Dean [Lori] Rosenthal played a significant role in encouraging students from [Humanities, Education, Justice, and Social Sciences] to attend the event. Also, Professor Dina Tanvuia brought her entire class to the fair,” Turner said.

Students said the fair had shortages of recruiters in some popular majors on campus, including the School of Fashion.

Junior fashion media and marketing major, Amelia Capron attended the career fair and was disappointed with the outcome.

“Since the fashion world can be cliquey it might have been hard to have someone come down, or a few people come down, but I know that as a fashion major we get emails about internship opportunities or job opportunities. So they could have gotten any of those brands or companies or businesses to come down to promote that,” Capron said.

Sophomore graphic design major Erin Tilley attended the fair with high hopes that there would be something there for her. The department she is in wasn’t specifically lacking, but many of the tables did not line up with what she expected. “I think I had higher expectations than what actually happened. For me. I printed out about 10 resumes. Just to be safe. I updated it and everything. And I think I didn’t even give one in so it didn’t go very well,” Tilley said. The event did offer options for graphic design majors, but Tilley stated she felt overwhelmed and couldn’t approach many tables.

Turner said the goal of the event was to work with the deans and internship coordinators of each program to create an “invitation-only employer registration list.”

“Nevertheless, our post-event evaluation will inevitably still reveal dissatisfaction with our carefully cultivated employer guest list,” Turner said.

One way Turner said the student experience could be improved in the future is by partnering with the SGA Senate.

“I believe incorporating our constituents’ voice into how the employer invite list is developed will reflect what students want and, ultimately, increase student attendance,” Turner said.

Turner said hosting more events like this could offer more opportunities to students, and that he will use feedback from the community to better the experience in the years to come.

“I take our students’ and employer partners’ feedback seriously and will use the observations provided by [students] to direct our next in-person event,” Turner said.