“Drunk Drivers Do it in the Emergency Room,” is a slogan that Marty Bear used in the 1990s to popularize his new company Alcohol Awareness Promotions.
Now, Bear is the president of Professional Marketing Services Inc. (PMSI), which is one of the largest sellers of workplace, meeting and collegiate promotional items.
Bear was among representatives from 86 other companies that came to Fairfield University’s RecPlex on Thursday, Sept. 27 for the fall Career Fair. The event, which was sponsored by the Career Planning Center, featured a diverse group of potential employers that ranged from companies such as Ability Beyond Disability to Connecticut Business Systems.
Dressed in the recommended business attire and armed with resumes, students met with representatives who were stationed at tables around the gym. Some students enjoyed the chance to grab some of the free promotional items that ranged from pens and candy to monogrammed t-shirts and water bottles, while others wanted to connect with representatives to find career opportunities.
“Primarily, I wanted to go to for the experience of meeting people and networking,” said Krista Charles ’14. “I found that it was very informative and in addition to different internship and job opportunities, there were a lot of grad schools, so it was good to see the variety of options.”
Fairfield students were even specifically sought after by some organizations.
“We hired our best students from Fairfield last year,” said Dina Siljkovic, the recruiting specialist from Frontier Communications. Frontier, a television and phone company, offers a summer internship with opportunities available for students to personally engage with other members in the business.
“We do a lunch and learn with our interns, a community service day and then finally at the end we do a presentation to our senior leaders so they basically present to the people who are right under the CEO,” said Siljkovic. “They get recognized and their ideas do get taken into consideration right afterwards.”
Other companies were interested in providing, “the Career Fair alternative” to students. Representatives from Pinnacle Business Network, a marketing firm that advises small businesses and equips them with social media tools, offered students a chance to make up to 500 dollars a month by working part-time from their dorm room at school and then continuing after graduation.
“What’s going on with most college students is that they are graduating and about 50 percent of them across the nation aren’t getting jobs or they’re getting a job that is much lower than what their degree would demand,” said President Paul Finck. “What we offer is an opportunity for them to actually begin to make some extra money part-time while they’re trying to figure out what else they’re going to do and figure out what else they could do.”
Many students, however, were dismayed by the companies that were present at the Career Fair and said that it seemed like a large amount of them seemed directed towards individuals in the business school.
“If you’re not accounting or finance it could be pretty difficult,” said Brendan Spearing ’14, a student who attended the Career Fair in the hopes of securing an internship. “I mean it’s been a little bit easier for me because I’m an accounting major but I can understand why it wouldn’t be for some people.”
Still, members of Career Planning defended the options that were available to students.
“Even in a company where their business is financing, they might not just be hiring for finance,” said Sue Quinlivan, the associate director of the Career Planning office. “There’s two reasons why I want students to come. One is so that people find jobs or internships. But the second is that it’s a good time to explore and see what are the other options. It may or may not be what you want, but it will start a dialogue.”
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