Issue 26, Volume 121
Thursday, September 27, 2012
Students, businesses benefit from job fair Career Services, liked what he saw. “The variety of employers and the number of employers is good,” Coughenour said. “We’ve Copy Editor had a good turnout. The turnout for this year is With graduation only a semester and a half about 5 percent higher than last year.” Since the economic downturn in 2008, away for many UT students, the 2012 Fall Job Fair was the place to get a head start in preparing Coughenour said that the job fair has not been able to get as many employers to participate. The for the “real world.” More than 160 companies were featured at the all-time record for employer turnout was set in Thompson-Boling Arena on Sept. 25, with repre- 2007 with 267 employers attending. The lowest sentatives for brands like Amazon, ExxonMobil, turnout yielded only 151 employers. With the economy appearing to slowly but Knoxville Utilities Board, the Kroger Company and New York Life Insurance Co., all offering surely improve, Coughenour is hoping that both full- and part-time jobs, salary positions, employer confidence will increase and that the job fair will be able to “get back to that 250training programs and internships. UT’s Career Services helped organize and range.” Setting up the job fair was not an easy feat. manage the event. While not having exact numbers at the time, Russ Coughenour, director of Coughenour said that in order to prepare for the entire event, Career Services has had to make thousands of transactions starting back in June. The list of tasks that Career Services has had to do includes advertising the fair to employers, getting them to register to participate, working out transportation to the fair and helping set up the multitude of booths. Coughenour said that once the number of confirmed employers has reached “critical mass,” Career Services then begins to advertise the fair to students and put in the effort to get students to attend the fair. “All of that takes quite a bit of advertising and communication and coordination and teamwork,” Coughenour said. “Often that’s missed in the equation. “Everybody thinks that employers just appear and students just appear and everything is magic,” he Emma Russell • The Daily Beacon added with a chuckle. “But Arian Nasab, senior in biological engineering, talks with it’s a little more difficult than that.” Mahle, Inc., at the Fall Job Fair on Sept. 25. Career Services’ efforts to
Justin Joo
get students to attend the fair were successful, as hundreds of them explored the booths in the arena. One of those students was Devon Swanson, senior in marketing. While a bit nervous at first, Swanson said that navigating around the fair became an easier experience over time. “It was kind of like those outof-body experiences,” Swanson said. “But once you talk to the first booth it becomes a lot less nerve wracking.” Part of Swanson’s strategy for keeping her cool during the fair’s proceedings was to prep her resume and pick specific companies to talk to. “Honestly, I just printed my resumes, picked out a good outfit and kind of looked at my top choices and came in with a top six or seven,” Swanson said. She recommended going to only 10 to 12 booths and then making a cut off in order to keep from being overwhelmed. Jarrett Burgess, senior in logistics, also felt a little nervous when entering the job fair, Gabby Earby• The Daily Beacon being somewhat awestruck by the sheer number of both stu- More than a hundred booths were set up in dents and employers in atten- Thompson-Boling Arena on Tuesday for the Fall Job dance. But he, too, learned to Fair. abate his fear quickly. “After I talked to one or two companies, it was- been able to get my resumes out to a bunch of difn’t that intimidating anymore,” Burgess said. ferent people. “It could be that nothing comes out of it,” she “They would tell me about their company and what positions they had available. … You realize added, “but I certainly have a promising outlook that you’re doing the same thing from here on given that I have some interviews.” Getting those interviews and hopefully landout.” Burgess hoped to find a job in warehousing or ing a job after graduation is the goal of the job transportation, and already had one interview set fair, and as far as Director Coughenour sees it, the job fair is always successful in doing so. up. “This is an event that a lot of employers have Katie Lutes, senior in chemical engineering, might have had some nervousness about the job on their radar screens,” Coughenour said. “They fair, but she was still excited about the opportuni- want to come to this event. “Our students show well,” he added. “The ties that could come out of it. “It’s been pretty promising,” Lutes said. “I University of Tennessee is a great brand. A brand have a couple interviews for tomorrow and I’ve that a lot of employers seek.”
SGA hosts voter registration drive David Cobb Assistant News Editor Election season has arrived, and UT’s politically motivated students have kicked things into gear. Ryan Ray is co-chairman of the Student Government Association’s Government Affairs Committee, a group that wants to increase student awareness and participation in political matters. Today from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., as well as Tuesday and Thursday, October 2 and 4, members of Government Affairs will be manning a table on Pedestrian Walkway where students can complete voter registration cards. “We decided to create this outlet for students, especially freshmen who may not know how to register to vote,” Ray said. “And we’re actually kind of doing it for them. They can stop by the table, fill out the sheet and leave. We even take it to the building downtown for them to be registered.” Students will be able to register using their Knoxville area address, which qualifies them to vote at the University Center on Election Day this November. A list of on-campus residence hall addresses will be on hand to assist students unsure of their address. “Just making the voter registration process more friendly for them is our goal,” Ray said. “Also a huge part of the emphasis is just to get awareness (out) that there is an election coming up. I think a lot of people know that. But it’s
INSIDE THE DAILY BEACON Page 2 . . . . . . . . In Short Page 3 . . . . . . . . . . . Weekender Page 4 . . . . . . . . . Opinion Page 5 . . . . Arts & Culture Page 6 . . . . . . . . . Sports Page 8 . . . . . . . . .Sports
Partly Cloudy 20% chance of rain
71
54
really important that the demographic of college students comes out for this election.” On October 18, Government Affairs will sponsor a debate between UT’s College Democrats, College Libertarians and College Republicans in the UC’s Shiloh Room. On Election Night, it will host a neutral results party. “The goal of the voter registration drive and just Government Affairs in general is to raise awareness on campus and (give) students different mediums to exercise their political views and help them engage best in the democratic process,” Ray said. Participants in the voter registration drive will also be able to learn more about UT Advocacy, a group that lobbies on behalf of students to state and national legislators. One legislator will be on campus today, as state representative Ryan Haynes will speak to the College Republicans at 7:00 p.m. “Having a state representative come talk to us is really important because it’s an election year, and we’ll get a lot out of having someone like him come talk,” College Republicans membership chair Abby Knight said. “It’s a great opportunity to put a face with (a) name and actually interact with someone like that.” Haynes is a 27 year old UT graduate and represents District 14 in the Tennessee General Assembly. He will be talking to the group about how young people can achieve success in politics.
Around Rocky Top
Sarah O’Leary • The Daily Beacon
Aron Beierschmitt, undergraduate in political science, talks at Vol Court on Sept. 25. Beierschmitt is the founder of Foundation Games.
Jones and Chaplin continue double success page 8
The Daily Beacon is printed using soy based ink on newsprint containing recycled content, utilizing renewable sources and produced in a sustainable, environmentally responsible manner.
utdailybeacon.com