While perusing through the University Student Union (USU) Wednesday and Thursday last week, many students may have noticed quite a bit of commotion coming from the ballroom area. Yet despite the noise, balloons, freebees and fancy board displays, there was something lacking at last week’s spring Job Fair – content.
A random sample of the jobs available for who will be entering the work force shows that many of the employment opportunities don’t have the allure or mystique that students fresh out of college would be looking for. Not only that, some of them didn’t require degrees.
Among the many less-than-desirable employers present at the job fair were 24 Hour Fitness looking for “sales representatives,” Bovis Lend Lease, Inc. offering construction work, Abercrombie & Fitch, Longs Drugs, T-Mobile, Target Stores, Walgreens all offering sales/retail management jobs and many others relating to work dealing with shipping and transportation – things many of us don’t aspire to do with our shiny new degrees.
Now, earning a bachelor’s degree shouldn’t only be about getting a better job. But, to be honest, that’s why many (and arguably most) of us are here. We want to be paid better and seek employment in areas of our interest.
Going to a university gives us the luxury of being able to be selective when it comes to jobs and hold out for something that suits us. Many of the employers at the job fair last week could have easily been found by walking into any retail store and are often willing to hire people on qualifications other than their educational experience. They also won’t help when it comes to paying off college debt.
Other campuses, most notably Cal State Fullerton, are only slightly better in the quality of employers being presented to students. While some of the businesses at their job fair this Wednesday are retail businesses (Hot Topic and Hertz will be there), the kinds of jobs that are being offered mainly pertain to corporate positions.
Also, Student Services at Fullerton has provided a Web site that allows students to not only view what employers will be there, but it has links to each employer, giving students information about each employer’s type of business, what kind of work it is looking for, an overview of what the company’s mission and how to contact it.
In comparison, CSULB’s Web site includes links to the businesses, their location at the fair, the kinds of majors they are interested in, the kind of employment they are seeking and the industry they are located in.
Too bad neither of the local colleges provide quality employment.
Understandably, the Career Development Center (CDC) can only do so much. They invite businesses, and the ones that are interested show up. But certainly they invite the same employers each year because they show up and have established a rapport with the CDC.
This is a reality check for starry-eyed students who are thinking their education might mean something in the future. When even your school doesn’t think you can be employed somewhere higher than the local drugstore, that’s sad.
