Forty-seven organizations — representing industries including technology, education and marketing — will attend the spring Career Fair next Wednesday, a smaller version of the fall counterpart intended to introduce students to companies that recruit at the end of the school year.
Most consulting and finance firms started their recruiting in the fall and are just finishing up the hiring process now, but smaller companies usually need until the spring to determine their budgets and openings for the summer, said Yvonne Rogers, assistant director for employer outreach.
About one-third of the attendees are nonprofits, such as the Peace Corps and Environment America. Big-name recruiters at the fair include Amazon, Yelp, Abercrombie and Fitch and Facebook. This year's participants come from a greater variety of industries and sectors than did participants in previous years, Rogers said.
Rogers said she expects 600 to 800 students to attend the spring fair. Around 1,000 students attended the Career Fair last fall.
Not all students think what they are looking for will be represented among the employers. Nicholas Shulman '14 said the kind of companies he is interested in — small start-ups and tech companies in Silicon Valley — are too small to attend and would not send people all the way to the East Coast. Since he cannot take advantage of traditional methods of networking at career fairs, he called securing internships with these companies "more stressful." He added that he would be interested in seeing more of an international presence and a more robust effort to attract companies from the West Coast at events sponsored by CareerLAB.
Kendra Cornejo '15, who currently plans to be at home this summer, said CareerLAB did a good job of publicizing the fair, so even though she is not actively seeking out an internship, she still plans to go to "see what's out there."
Megan Fitzpatrick '11, a clean water associate with the nationwide nonprofit Environment America, said her organization actively recruits at Brown. Environment America is looking to fill a two-year fellowship that would allow recent graduates to work with advocates and organizers on issues such as water and clean energy, environmental sustainability and global warming, she said.
Michael Clinton, a senior recruiter for the advertising agency Hill Holiday, said this career fair marks the company's fourth recruiting event at Brown. While his company specializes in marketing — a profession not specifically represented among the University's academic offerings — he said Brown students are able to articulate how their previous experiences, academic and otherwise, have prepared them to work in the industry. He added that students he talks to at the fairs have usually researched the company and are able to justify their interest compellingly.
In addition to next week's career fair, there are four supplemental fairs scheduled. The All-Ivy Environmental Career Fair at Columbia serves the consortium of eight Ivy League schools. The Association for Latino Professionals in Finance and Accounting Career Fair targets Latinos interested in accounting and finance but is also open to other applicants, Rogers said.
CareerLAB also hosts career fairs in March for students interested in careers related to health and social enterprise.
With five career fairs within a month, there is "a lot of activity," Rogers said. She added that students should expect more offerings from CareerLAB to meet the needs of students interested in working for nonprofits.
