Seniors seeking full-time employment, and maybe some free water bottles and pens, descended on the Joyce Center and Heritage Hall on Wednesday afternoon for the full-time employment session of the 2012 Fall Career Expo, sponsored by the Career Center.
Senior Brett Cavanaugh, a political science major, said the Career Fair was the first step in his job search.
"I'm not sure what I want to do next year and I thought this would be a good place to start my search," he said. "I picked 10 companies that I was interested in ... mostly just Arts and Letters companies I liked, [such as] Target, Abercrombie, General Mills, Boston Consulting Group and Finish Line."
Cavanaugh said this year's career fair was an improvement on last winter's event.
"That fair [last winter] was a little overwhelming, but I got more comfortable as the night progressed, so I feel pretty good tonight," he said.
Cavanaugh said he spent about an hour researching the companies he wanted to speak with at the fair.
"I looked at their websites to see what their objectives are, what they stand for," he said. "I just want to see what's out there and get my feet in the water, start networking."
Senior Audrey Hayes, a double major in philosophy and violin performance, said she was at the fair to explore her options.
"I'm thinking perhaps a path in consulting or graduate school or teaching English in a foreign country," she said.
Hayes said she searched for companies that fit into those three categories in her pre-event research.
"[I wanted to see] what their statements are, how they operate," she said, "[I picked] the ones I thought were the best fit for me."
Her goal for her conversations with recruiters was to focus on her abilities in the workplace, she said.
"I would like to reiterate I'm a hard worker and I'm passionate about the things that I do," Hayes said. "I want to show that [my skills] translate into any kind of field."
Senior Rory Convery, a history major, is a native of Ireland but is looking for a job in the U.S.
"I don't want to leave the country ... I need a visa," he said. "I'm looking at a lot of consulting firms and financial services. I'm considering law school, but consulting I feel is something I could do for two or three years."
Convery said he spoke to friends who worked at companies he liked to get a better picture of their office environment.
"I really liked Acquity Group," he said. "They seemed like a really young, dynamic company, and I know from friends they have a nice working atmosphere."
Convery said he appreciated Acquity Group's digital strategy for marketing.
"It's cutting edge and helping companies break into the market through the Internet," he said.
Convery said the next step after the fair was about following through with the contacts he made there.
"Hopefully I'll get some interviews and move on from there," he said.
Senior Mike Georgiadis, a chemical engineering major, said he had pragmatic reasons for being at the fair.
"I've got to work," he said. "I'm keeping my options open. I'm looking at consulting today, [and will] probably look at engineering companies next week at the Engineering Career Fair."
Georgiadis said he secured an internship thanks to last year's fair.
"[The internship] went well, [but it's] not really what I want to do with the rest of my life," he said. "I was working at Hatch, an engineering company. I was looking at power plants and trying to upgrade to reduce their emissions for the EPA rule that's come out recently."
Junior Lissa Stolte said she got an email from the company she worked at last summer to visit their booth at the Career Fair.
She said she was able to speak with the recruiter about her project for McGladrey, a mid-sized accounting firm, this semester.
"I'm actually leading an SIBC project for that firm this semester and we talked about that a little bit," Stolte said.
Even though she is a junior, she said the recruiters personally invited her to stop by and say hello.
"It was nice to have them reach out because it's usually the other way around," she said. "I updated the main recruiter about what I'm up to and gave her my revised resume."
Tonight the center will host its first Internship Fair at the Joyce Center.
