Career and Internship Fair allows students to network with nearly 70 companies
By Zoe Strozewski | Published May 12, 2019
Nearly 70 companies were present at the biannual Career and Internship Fair, organized and hosted by Kean’s Career Services.
Tables lined the room and were staffed by representatives from attending companies, including Amazon, FBI and Geico, looking to take down student contact information and hire from Kean’s community. Job and internship opportunities at the fair varied from full-time or part-time, paid to unpaid and spoke for an assortment of vocational areas.
Sophomore Michelle Froehlich, a criminal justice major, said she decided to attend the fair in order to scope out possible internship opportunities for the summer.
“I’ve been interested in getting an internship for a long time because I think it would look really good on a resume,” Froehlich said. “I figured it couldn’t hurt to at least see what opportunities are here.”
Froehlich was pleased to see the variety of both general and major-specific hiring opportunities present at the fair.
“I didn’t realize that I could find a job or internship so close to the career I want to go into,” Froehlich said. “I was actually really interested in NJ Courts because the people were so nice to talk to and I could get actual experience in criminal justice instead of just working at a place like Dairy Queen over the summer.”
Dorian Lee Perez, a sales and marketing manager tabling for the Elizabeth Destination Marketing Organization, believes that students can benefit from obtaining internships due to their ability to provide a legitimate background in their desired fields.
“I personally think that students can benefit from an internship to get the real hands-on experience they need in order to be successful in whatever career they want … It’s just another stepping stone in building a resume,” Perez said.
Perez also believes that the companies themselves benefit in the hiring of students as well, as they can then play a role in cultivating the skills they look for in job candidates.
“Companies usually benefit because there’s development opportunities for both the person who’s hiring them and the student … Helping develop talent is really important for a company so we can grab it one day,” Perez said.