By Olya Podorozhko
Staff Writer
Students gathered Feb. 28 in the Loker Student Union for the Spring Career and Internship Expo, where multiple participating employers were offering various paid student internships and full- and part-time positions.
If you have never attended a career fair here on campus, it is highly recommended by academic advisors you do, especially if you are looking for a local internship or a job.
Among some of the vendor partners that participated were Verizon, StubHub Center, Grice, Walgreens, Fed Ex, Big 5, Yusen Terminals Inc., Los Angeles County Human Resources, Tenet Health, Michelson Found Animals, The Aptus Group, Excel Professional Staffing Services, JM Eagle, OneMain Lending, Panda Express, Coffee Bean and many others.
Some hired on the spot, offering open positions, and some had a variety of positions offered online, but all were open to accepting resumes and scheduling interviews for qualified candidates.
Julia Law, an employee of a nonprofit, Michelson Found Animals pet store, shared her understanding and knowledge of adopting an animal.
“By adopting a dog or a cat you will help not only to save a life but also to make more room for us to help more animals in need,” Law said. “Beyond bringing pets home, when you shop with us and make use of our services, every dollar spent goes back to helping more animals.”
The company is currently looking for interns who can contribute their time in the Los Angeles area for different exciting positions, such as human resources, planning and analysis, policy, microchip registry, kitten foster project and more.
For more information, contact them by email: [email protected] or by calling: 424-625-5664
Some employers gave helpful tips on what they look for in a potential employee.
“We are looking for someone who can be a good listener, sympathetic and has good, stable communication skills because we work with a wide spectrum of people,” Erick Hines, with OneMain Lending Made Personal Corp., said. “We service people with different types of incomes and deal with people from different walks of life, so flexibility and understanding is important.”
Hines also spoke about how important internships are to students, comparing it to dating. According to Hines, you have to try each other out first and see if either is a good fit.
Internships prepare you for professional full-time work and train you to gain the necessary skills needed in a professional work environment. If you don’t like it, you can always switch to something else that better fits your desires; that is how you find what you really love and want to do.
One important reason to attend such an event is to network and gain understanding on what the employers are looking for in their employees.
Even if you don’t know what you want to do, it’s always worth trying than not trying at all, because you never know what kind of exciting position you might score or maybe even find a career of your dreams that will change your life.
For information about future events, please contact the Career Center or visit their website at www4.csudh.edu/career-center/ walk ins are also welcome.
They are located at Welch Hall, Room D-360.