Opportunities abound at career fair

About 80 companies lined up on the court of Gampel Pavilion for UConn's fall career fair to talk with students seeking internships, co-ops or full-time positions.

Students were given the chance to speak with representatives from companies such as General Electric, United Technologies, Sherwin Williams Co. and Abercrombie and Fitch.

"What I hope to get out of it is information about different internships," said Diego dos Santos, a 5th-semester business management information systems major.

"I'm looking for internships - contact information at the very least - and I want to learn what jobs pertain to my major," said Matthew Robins, a 5th-semester resource economics major.

Career Services wanted to provide a venue where students could network effectively, according to Laura Newbury, assistant director and manager of employer relations.

Career Services also wanted the event to be geared toward all majors, according to Newbury.

Everything from pharmacy and business to journalism and engineering could be found somewhere in the "majors recruited" listing of the career fair booklet.

Altria Group, the parent company of cigarette giant Phillip Morris USA, was one of many companies at the fair that was looking for students from a broad range of studies, including exploratory majors.

"We are looking for a well-rounded individual with strong communication and leadership skills," said an Altria representative who had been with the company for seven years. The representative declined to give her name.

The general focus for the fall career fair every year is offering full time-job positions for graduating seniors, said Newbury. "The spring career fair focuses mainly on internships," Newbury said.

Students who missed Wednesday's career fair should not worry, however. Newbury explained that if a student wants to seek an internship, co-op or full time position, they need not go any further than the Career Services office in CUE 217, which is open year-round.

Career Services also provides an online resource called Huskycareerlink that can be accessed through the Career Services main page. Huskycareerlink runs a campus interviewing system that sets up select students with companies involved with UConn that may not have been at the career fair yesterday, Newbury said.