UMaine’s Annual Career Fair Connects Students, Jobs

Contact: Contacts: Patty Counihan, (207) 581-1359, George Manlove (207) 581-3756

ORONO — College students who want to leapfrog much of the job search process after graduation might do well to consider attending the UMaine Career Center’s 2006 Career Fair Feb. 1 in the university field house and Memorial gym.

From 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., the annual event is free to attend and will gather more than 100 companies and organizations, whose representatives are anxious to scout out future employees or interns from one of the biggest educated young labor pools around.

Companies registered this year represent a wide array of fields, including construction, technology, healthcare, financial, educational, social services, communications, recreation, military and government. Employers also are in search of interns, teachers, engineers, foreign language interpreters, nurses, park rangers, bankers, cadets, scientists, social workers, customs agents, journalists, researchers, retail managers, insurance professionals, landscapers, transportation specialists, medical staffers and business professionals.

“We encourage every student, even if they haven’t picked a major yet, to go,” said Patty Counihan, director of the UMaine Career Center. “You rarely see this number of employers all under one roof. Learning about what many of these companies do can even help students choose a major. That’s why we call it a career fair, not just a job fair.”

Several of the organizations or companies new to the career fair this year include the Federal Bureau of Investigation, T.Y. Lin International structural engineers and the Lee County School District in Fort Myers, Fla.

“We have a lot of students interested in the FBI, so that’s a draw,” Counihan says.

Worldwide Language Resources, a company that trains translators for deployment nationally and around the world, also will be at the fair. “It’s fascinating,” Counihan says of the Rumford, Maine company. “They’re based in Rumford. It really is a world-wide scope.”

Serving as both career and job fair, the event provides an opportunity for students to discuss products, services, workplace environment and benefits with prospective employers. Seniors can get great leads — and interviews — on job opportunities after graduation and underclassmen and women can learn about internships or other experiential education opportunities to help prepare them for when they are ready to enter the job market.

“It’s strictly information gathering, so they can explore what type of careers they’d like to pursue,” Counihan says.

The career fair will have an Internet Cafe again this year, with eight wireless laptops available for students to use for anything from researching companies to registering with the Career Center’s eRecruiting system to filling out job applications on-line, Counihan says.

As in the past, some of the companies participating in the career fair will set up temporary offices in the Career Center, on the third floor of the Memorial Union, for a few days after the fair to conduct follow-up interviews.

Though specific numbers are unknown, Counihan says anecdotal evidence suggests that hundreds of students do make solid job contacts during the annual career fair.

As an added incentive to attend, there will be a drawing for door prizes for those students who visit the Internet Cafe and register with the Career Center eRecruiting system.

Additional information, including a list of employers and organizations signed up for this year’s fair and tips on making the best use of the fair, is available on the Career Center website at www.umaine.edu/career or by calling the Career Center at (207) 581-1359.

Counihan says students can learn some important do’s and don’ts from the Career Center website before heading off to the career fair, including tips on dress, interviews, what to carry, what to say and how to prepare.

Career Fair 2006 is presented by the Career Center and sponsored by Coca-Cola, Pike Industries, Sweetser, Acadia Hospital, Cintas Corporation, Citigroup Global Transaction Services, Citistreet, CVS Pharmacy, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, Irving Woodlands LLC, Lenovo, National Grid, Poland Spring/Nestle Waters North America, T.Y. Lin International, Tyler Technologies, MUNIS Division, UMaine Alumni Association, UMaine Bookstore, UMaine Computer Connection, UMaine Corporate Affiliate Program, UMaine Division of Student Affairs and Unicel.