Photo by: Charles Ng
The DU Career Center hosted the first of three yearly career fairs last week.
With just under 50 participating employers in attendance, the job fair was held in the Driscoll Ballroom, and attracted an unusually high number of students.
“I think that it is most likely due to the slowing economy. Students are just becoming more and more aware of what lies in store for them (after they graduate),” said John Haag, internship coordinator and career counselor.
He said the number of attending students had been increasing ever since early 2001, when the economy began showing signs of serious decline. The Career Center printed 700 student handouts, and by around 3:30 p.m. only a handful was left.
Each handout contained detailed contact information for each of the organizations or companies, maps of booth locations, worksheets for noting job contact information, and a survey about how successful the fair was.
Haag also said that around 50 booths or exhibits were the number to fit in Driscoll Ballroom. Any more and the fair would have to be relocated to the Ritchie Center, which would be less convenient for both the students and the company booth space in Driscoll, in order that students would have enough room to walk around without bumping into displays.
Most of the organizations offered paid internship and training programs, whose length ranged from a few weeks in the summer to Marriott’s 18-month managerial internship program.
Walgreen’s was looking to nearly double their business in the next 5-10 years.
Tom Heissenbuttel, pharmacist and store manager for Walgreen’s, said that there was a national shortage of pharmacists, and that Walgreen’s estimates 90 percent of all sales will be drug-related in the next 10 years.
“They just come beating down my door,” said Capt. Jones, USMC commissioned officer recruiting, when asked if meeting recruiting goals was ever difficult.
“Plus we have several great programs, such as the 10 week or double 6 week options, much better than the old ROTC,” Jones said.
The DU Career Center has four offices on campus; in the law school, GSIS, Daniels College of Business, and the Driscoll Center office.
“I just want to plant the seeds, seeds that may eventually sprout and grow (into a successful career),” Haag said.
