Collegiate Times

The Business Horizons Career Fair will be held today from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the Old Dominion Ballroom and the Commonwealth Ballroom in Squires Student Center. The fair will be host to over 140 companies offering co-op and internship opportunities and seeking full and part-time employees.

The event is sponsored by the Pamplin Executive Planning Committee, but is being run by the Business Horizons Team.

?The entire career fair is put on by a team of 28 students,? said Tania Mishina, a member of the publicity committee for the Business Horizons Team. ?The team has worked hard since January to make the fair a success. Many volunteers help on the day of the fair as well ? The purpose of putting on the fair is to give the students in Pamplin a chance to meet with a variety of the top employers in their field. By meeting with these employers, the students can ask questions to learn more about the companies and positions available, and how they can apply for those positions. The employers also benefit because they have an opportunity to meet a great amount of very diverse students in one day.?

The career fair aims to help students explore different career options.

?One of the main goals of the fair is permanent placement for our students,? said Bonnie Gilbert, the assistant director of Alumni Relations for the Pamplin College of Business. ?We hope that we can get good jobs for our December and May graduates and even those graduating in the summer.?

Attending the fair can result in job interviews soon after meeting with an employer at the fair.

?Meeting employers at career fairs will very often results in job interviews,? Mishina said. ?Some employers will stay after the fair to conduct on-campus interviews, some will come back in a couple of weeks and conduct campus interviews and some will ask the candidate to visit the location of the business for an interview.?

The dress for the business fair is either formal business attire or business casual attire. If a student is interested in pursuing full-time positions, internships or co-ops, they should wear formal business-wear, such as suits and dress shoes. If a student is merely attending to gather information, business casual wear such as khakis, blouses and polos is acceptable. Students are also required to bring their Hokie Passport for check-in and to bring paper copies of their resume.

?It?s an excellent way to meet future employers, especially for upperclassmen who are about to enter the actual business world,? said Chris VanEvery, a sophomore business information technology and computer science major. ?In addition, underclassmen are able to set up internships for the summer so that they can gain actual work experience. Last year?s fair was huge with a lot of employers and a variety of work environments from information technology to computer science to general business operation management. There are things for all kinds of business majors.?

The team is aiming for a successful turnout.

?The Business Horizons team hopes to meet the expectations of the business students in that they will have the opportunity to meet employers and take steps to receiving a job offer as well as the employers expectations to recruit the best students in their fields,? said Mishina.