College Students' Perceptions about Career Fairs: What They Like, What They Gain, and What They Want to See.

College instructors use a variety of strategies to increase the likelihood that their students will find jobs. Career fairs are just one strategy designed to help students think more clearly about their career paths. It has traditionally been assumed that students will benefit from participating in a career fair simply from attending one. As such, very little research has examined the benefits and students perception of career fairs. To address this void in the literature, the current study examines the experience of 93 students who recently attended a career fair. Attention is given to what they liked about the career fair, what they believed they gained from it, what they did not like about it, and what they wanted to see in future career fairs. INTRODUCTION For most college students, the ultimate goal of a college education is to be prepared for particular career, and therefore, competitive in the job market. As such, college faculty perform many tasks in an effort to increase students' employability. Teaching relevant courses, enhancing students' writing and speaking abilities, and encouraging critical thinking are just a few measures that are traditionally used to prepare students for their careers. College career management centers also do different things to help students find jobs. Individual job counseling, tips for resume construction, job placement interviews, internship placement, and career fairs are strategies often provided by career management centers. At our university, the career management center has been the office responsible for helping students find jobs and internships. This makes some sense because the office is able to hire individuals familiar with job recruiting and career placement strategies. One of the primary events that the office uses to help students is the convening of a career fair each semester. Career fairs are beneficial since a large number of companies and organizations are gathered in one location. Students are therefore able to explore career and internship options, find out what companies require, as well as gain advice regarding relevant courses that might assist the student in their area they are specializing in. Approximately one hundred employers accept an invitation to attend a bi-annual career fair for a day in order to meet who will be graduating that year and those who are interested in an internship or volunteering. The employers are asked to pay a fee for the opportunity to meet students, many of whom would be inaccessible to the employers. Because a fee is charged, some employers--especially those in public or social services--may decide not to attend the event. What happens, then, is the resulting career fair may not be extremely useful for students aspiring to work in fields that chose not participate in the university-wide career fair. While it makes sense to have a separate unit at a college or university provide the bulk of "practical" career preparation strategies, one has to wonder whether specific college departments can become more involved in helping students find employment (Ash, 2002; Freund, 2000). One problem that plagues career services offices at colleges and universities is that they are often understaffed (Gold, 2002). As well, involving departments in organizing career fairs offers a strategy that should allow students to learn about specifically about careers rather than relying on images that may be inaccurate (Pearson and Pearson, 1999; Piotrowski and Hemasinha, 2001). Finally, departments have more expertise about specific positions in addition to contacts with companies and organizations in their respective area. With this aim in mind, our department decided to host a major-specific career fair for our students. Using the services of one of our student groups, we organized a career fair for majors in the area of sociology and criminal justice. Working with the career management center to organize the event, we invited about seventy-five agencies to attend our career fair. …