Career Fair 2014 // Photo: Mike Latschislaw
The making of many new careers
About 4,000 students and alumni explored close to 100 exhibits at Career Fair 2014 last week at the University of Manitoba.
“Networking is by far the best way to connect with a career path, which is why we host career fairs like this,” says Lindsey Hiebert, an employment advisory in Career Services at the U of M.
The university is hosting the first-ever Career Month this January, featuring free career planning activities and networking events for U of M students (see the calender of events here). The twelfth-annual Career Fair that was held on January 15 is just one event, and during it both the Multi-Purpose Room and Marshall McLuhan Hall were swarming with students.
“Hi, I’m Andrew,” a student says, extending his hand for a shake.
“Hi, I’m Kim.”
“What’s the job market like?”
“In demand,” says Kim at the Sun Life Financial booth.
That overheard exchange was overheard at many other booths with many other names.
One aisle away, Jason Ward, a second-year mechanical engineering student, was following the advice Hiebert offers students who seek her counsel: start figuring out what you want to do as early as possible and then find experiences that can help you get on that path.
Ward was spotted in front of the Boeing booth, where he seemed to be giving himself an internal pep-talk. He wants to find a student position at Boeing to gain experience and he wanted to present himself well.
“I just finished talking to a bunch of other booths I wasn’t interested in to warm up for this one,” he says. And then he stepped forward and introduced himself to Boeing.
It’s not always students selling themselves to booths though. In Marshall McLuhan Hall, in a perfect location across from to the oft-visited Timbits table, sat Lizette Grivicic from Diagnostic Services of Manitoba.
“It’s important we’re here because who knows Diagnostic Services of Manitoba exists?” she says. “We may not hire anyone here today or tomorrow but it’s important that people become aware of us. So it’s not about hiring; it’s about awareness — and we’ve already spoken to about 50 people and it’s only eleven a.m.”