Career fairs on despite bad times

By: Kelsey Stewart

Posted: 4/29/09

Career fairs, like the Walton Business Career Fair, encourage students to work on networking skills and search for employment opportunities, but some students leave feeling more frustrated than motivated.

"About 90 percent of all the companies I've talked to have just given me a bunch of statements about their company and then said 'just apply online,'" said Abigail Brock, a senior marketing management major. "It's frustrating."

Brice Coleman, who is senior director of human resources at Crossmark, Inc., a business service company for manufactures and retailers of consumer goods, collects resumes through its online applicant tracking system and usually only schedules interviews after the candidate's information has been reviewed.

Though Crossmark is actively hiring, targeted efforts for active recruitment such as career fairs depends on the needs of the position being filled Coleman said.

Adam Hammond, a junior international business major has also encountered less than helpful company representatives from large enterprises such as AT&T, JCPenney, and Target.

"I only went to career fairs my freshman and sophomore years. Then I realized everyone just tells you to go apply online. Ultimately, there's no point in going," Hammond said.

Students often are told by company representatives to leave a number and they will stay in touch or to simply apply online, leaving students like Brock and Hammond discouraged.

With the recent layoffs associated with Wal-Mart, company representatives comment on their recruitment methods, saying active recruitment was not a priority.

"This is unsettling," Hammond said. "They were the only ones I felt knew what they were doing and really wanted to provide students with employment opportunities in the past few years."

Companies and organizations often send a new hire as opposed to an employee who has years of experience. Whether offering perspective students a representative with a fresh outlook on the business world is part of a strategy, students called it a waste of their time.

"Who we send to career fairs really just depends. It's generally a case by case situation," said a representative who answered Wal-Mart's Media Relations hotline.

A seasoned recruiter often will accompany younger employees and together they represent their company said Renee Clay, assistant director of the Walton Career Development Center. Companies sometimes like to send younger alums of the university so that students can interact with representatives more their age.

Who the company sends depends on the circumstances and availability of their employees Coleman said.

"I feel like some of the companies try to make a presence at the career fair just to say they were there," Brock said. "But when they show up, they don't really seem prepared and I feel like they wasted my time."