Career Expo 2009 -- For Students
Career Expo 2008
Employers: click here for details and to register.
Making the Most of the Career Expo: Read this story for solid pointers on how to prepare.
When & Where: Saturday, March 28, 2009, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., at Columbia University's Roone Arledge Auditorium, 2920 Broadway, in Lerner Hall.
Bring at least 15 sets of your resumes, lists of references and clips to give to recruiters. For those of you with multimedia projects or clips, we have heard from some editors that they like to leave with DVDs, not just a list of links. While this might seem counterintuitive if you are applying for a web job, we cede to editors on this one. They want something in hand. Broadcast and new media students: bring your laptop and headphones to play samples of your work so that recruiters can view, hear and give you critiques.The Broadway-entrance doors to Arledge Auditorium will open to students at 8:30 a.m. Saturday. You must have your Columbia I.D. for admission. Inside you'll find registration tables separated alphabetically to keep things moving smoothly. You'll be given a name tag at check-in. No student will be allowed inside the auditorium without a name tag. The career expo doesn't start until 9 a.m. At 12:10 p.m., the auditorium will close until 1 p.m. for a lunch break.
Arledge Auditorium is fully wireless and Internet accessible; wireless access will be available free of charge. However, the folks at Lerner Hall warn that if too many people use the Internet at the same time, systems will slow. Therefore, we advise most students to depend on paper resumes and clips. New Media and broadcast students will want to test their Internet connection before the career expo.
We have invited journalism associations to provide you another way to start networking. At last year's career expo, two students who joined AAJA on the spot were assigned professional mentors at the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times immediately after the Career Expo. Another student met with members of the New York Financial Writers Association, took their advice to apply for the association's no-strings-attached scholarship, and won. The journalists sitting at these tables are editors and reporters themselves.
How the career expo works: During registration you will list media PREFERENCES, areas of interest by rank, and geographic restrictions if any. Using that information, job descriptions submitted by employers and recommendations by your professors, we will match you with two to three recruiters. We’ll try to accommodate your preferences but cannot guarantee your top choices. However, you will have an opportunity to meet with any recruiter you like during an “open walk-up period.” Keep in mind that the walk-up interviews can be as important as the match-up meetings, and recruiters look forward to this part of the career expo and take it very seriously. And remember: The more restrictions you indicate d on your registration form, the fewer match-ups you’ll have.
Why: The career expo is a great way to network with potential employers and get into the hiring pipeline. The impressions you make in the scheduled matches and the walk-up period interviews may well determine whether you get a foot in the door. Every year students do just that: In 2006, 2007 and 2008, many students were hired as a result of contacts they made at the career expo. Not all of the employers will have jobs to fill immediately, and no one should expect to walk away with a job offer. But some recruiters begin contacting students immediately for followup interviews.