By By CHRISTINA CLARK
Staff Writer
Preface Photo/JOHN BATLINER
The IU South Bend Career and Internship Fair was in full swing on March 27, with the buzz starting during Veterans Hour at 1 p.m., and busy with students and community members until the close at 5 p.m..
All advertisement on the event required professional dress, and all were following suit. According to Meagan Thornburg from the IUSBCareer Services Office, 366 (“and counting”) students registered for the job fair, indicating the onsite registration table.
Last fall, there were about 60 company booths. This spring there were 86 registered companies and schools.
By 2 p.m., the SAC gym was abuzz with conversation. Nervous applicants sat along the locker room wall and courtside benches filling out their registration for the fair. At entrance the Career Services were handing out guides to the booths for applicants. The applicants carefully planned their approach, getting brave enough to take flight from the bench and into the fair.
In a colorful flowing skirt, black top and sweater, Samantha Rindfieldprepared herself to enter the job fair.
“I just got done writing 19 different resumes,” she said. Rindfieldwas looking specifically at 15 different companies, each with a different position requiring a different set of skills.
“Four resumes are going to one company,” she said, explaining that there are four different jobs available at one company she is hoping to be successful with. Rindfield is an accounting major, with minors in East Asian culture and Spanish. Finding work in accounting would be “preferable.”
As for looking for work outside the career fair?
“I’ve tried but it’s just not as focused as the career fair.”
Dressed to hopefully impress potential employers, Melissa Mills hoped to land an administrative position. She is not a student atIUSB, but a community member looking for more exposure to the available job market.
Jordan Martinus, 2011 IUSB alumni, commented that the job market was “starting to get better.” Although currently employed, he hoped to find some engineering and business opportunities.
Companies like Four Winds Casino, Speedway, Dungarvin andAFLAC were looking for applicants with a degree optional.
Dungarvin’s representative Brandi McGeath, a human resources specialist, described the kind of person they were looking to hire: “No prior experience needed. [They just need to be] patient, understanding, and willing to learn and help someone achieve and pursue goals.”
Joe Kuharic and Doug McAvoy of The Elkhart Truth were having a great time in their booth. Kuharic, formerly a staff writer for The Preface, spoke about the newspaper’s goal of “getting the paper back to the people. Keeping it local, with what’s happening in the community,” is what they’re about.
The Elkhart Truth was looking for recruits for two internship programs, one on Digital Content and another for Marketing. Digital content is taking off with the paper, and giving the community a voice in the news is a goal and an expanding part of their network.
Branches of the Armed Forces also had booths with recruiters for those interested in joining a branch of the Military, whether for career or for money to fund college.
