Don’t turn away “artsy” students at career fairs

"Don’t turn away “artsy” students at career fairs", August 24, 2009

In high school, I was told that going to university would open a window of opportunities for my future and ultimately help me get a good job. I applied to university in a social sciences discipline since I did not have the mathematical aptitude to handle the sciences or engineering.

During frosh week, social sciences and humanities students were taunted by the engineers, who called out, “Spatula!” Meaning: we didn’t have any career options after university and were destined to work a low-wage fast food job.

Humanities students were specifically targeted with “A-B-C-D-E-F-G. H-I-J-K. L-M-N-O-P. Q-R-S. TU-V. W-X-Y-Z. Now I know my ABCs, so I can pass the humanities,” implying humanities courses are easy.

At the time, I just assumed this was a way for the engineering reps to promote faculty pride in their first year students, and this attitude wasn’t present throughout the rest of the institution.

However, it appears that was only wishful thinking: in the last few years, the humanities and social sciences have faced many budget cuts in instructors, number of classes offered and resources available, and I know that this is not unique to my school.

Once I completed a few years of school, I thought going to a career fair would be a good way for me to decide what I could do with my degree in the future. Not being in health sciences, engineering or business, meant few employers were interested in my degree.

I attempted to talk to a few different companies and was turned away when I told them I was in a combined humanities/social science program. I didn’t approach other groups because they had no information for students in more than one faculty. Quite frankly, the whole thing was a complete waste of my time, and I felt very frustrated and disappointed.

Does it mean those engineers were right, or do career fairs need to be re-worked in order to support the diversity of educational options out there?

I’m hoping for the latter. I was told to never to judge a book by its cover and, as an English major, that advice seems almost too fitting.

If your company is attending a career fair at a university or college, remember there will be students from all kinds of academic programs there and, as a result, students with a variety of different experiences, both in terms of education as well as employment.

Just because a student isn’t in a certain degree program does not mean they aren’t qualified for a job in your company. For example, I have experience in HR, public relations, marketing and management, which is something you wouldn’t know if you only look at what program I’m in.

Sure, if you’re part of an architecture firm you’re primarily going to want to hire architects or engineers. But if someone from another program comes to your table, you do not have to turn them away. Every company has multiple departments that need a variety of employees with different kinds of work and education experience, and your company should be no exception to this.

You attend career fairs to entice students, not to deter them. And just because your company doesn’t have anything to offer one student, it doesn’t mean the same student can’t pass on information about your company to a friend or two.

Three Ways to Attract Gen-Y at a Career Fair

"Three Ways to Attract Gen-Y at a Career Fair", June 17 2009.

There is a major discord between current students and most employers in trying to gain prospective employees. Quite simply, many companies do not know how to effectively market themselves for entry-level employees. The tactics that were successful 10 years ago no longer apply because Gen Y has been raised differently than previous generations.

We want to experience you, not just read about you

We are a multimedia generation. I have been using the Internet for approximately 40% of my life and, for younger members of Gen Y, this number is 50% or higher. Television and advertising have also been huge components in our lives. We have been raised to respond to different stimuli than earlier generations: simple pamphlets or signs will no longer pique our attention.

Videos or a short slideshow on an LCD screen will make most of us stop and pay attention because they’re creative and dynamic. These media also more effective when the characters look like us, talk like us, act like us and are presumably very close to us in age. We do not want to be hired into a workplace where no one can relate to us, and if the first view of the company we get is someone the same age as our parents, we may not be as inclined to reply.

We have no idea why you’re the best, so tell us … in detail!

We were raised to accept nothing but the best for ourselves and we want to know why you are the best. No, not how well your sales did last quarter, things we actually care about as job hunters.

For example, what kind of health benefits does your company offer? What does the company do for staff gatherings: potluck lunches in a meeting room (boring, old fashioned … need I go on?), or after-hours trips completely unrelated to work (sporting or charity events, etc)? How much vacation time do entry-level employees receive? What steps has the company made to be more eco-friendly and socially responsible?

For Gen Y, the brand that goes with the position you’re hiring for will entice us to apply for the job. If we think your company really values your employees or the same things we care about, we’ll be more interested in working for you.

Your current “free gift” is probably boring

Many of us have received promotional materials during university/college fairs, frosh weeks, festivals and career fairs. These items, called SWAG (Stuff We All Get), are a way to make your company more memorable after coming in contact with so many.

For the most part, these items are limited to pens, highlighters, lanyards and magnets. Although they serve a purpose (who can’t use a pen?), they’re never examined in great detail once we get home because we probably received multiples of the same dull item.

This gives us the impression that your company is boring, uncreative and resolved to remain unchanged. Gen Yers want to work somewhere more progressive. There are literally thousands of other options you could consider for promotional materials instead.

We want something that we can use, but also something different from the norm. More interesting suggestions include Frisbees, reusable shopping bags, fortune cookies, miniature flashlights, recycled products, USB keys and stainless steel water bottles. When we check out these items again when we get home, we are going to remember who gave them to us and what they said about their company.

Bonus points if the item cleverly refers to your company name, product/service or an initiative you’re undertaking!