Hundreds of hopeful students flooded the Michigan Union Ballroom yesterday for the Career Center’s annual Internship Fair.
The fair, which was co-sponsored by the Borders Group, allowed students and alumni to meet face to face with potential employers from a broad range of local and national companies. Twenty-seven employers were represented at the fair, including ESPN, Ford Motor Company, Marshall Field’s and Target Corporation.
“(The Fair) is a huge resource for me to use,” LSA sophomore Bahabya Gowda said. “It gave me a chance to see what is there.”
Amy Hoag, coordinator of internship services at the Career Center, said the center maintains relationships with companies throughout the year and searches for employers that students might be interested in, as well as finding employers interested in hiring University students.
Hoag added that the center invites employers to the University every January to search for new interns.
Bess Bowers, a program associate from the ESPN Program Department and a University alum, said one of the main qualities her company looks for in interns is a good work ethic.
“We are looking for people that are hardworking and willing to put up with ungodly hours,” she said. “We’re going to a lot of different campuses and participating in as many internship fairs as possible so we can have a broad base of strong candidates available to us.”
Hoag said the University has a good reputation with employers across the country. “Employers rave about interns (from the University) they’ve had in the past,” she said. “Employers comment all the time about how qualified our students are, how mature our students are and how prepared they are for the internship experience. They really consider (the University) to be one of their primary target schools.”
LSA junior Claire Kemerling was most interested in the Borders Group and Target Corporation.
“Borders has a strong commitment to community relations and diversity, and that’s something I really look for in a company. My values have to match with theirs.”
But for many, the Internship Fair is only the beginning of their search.
“This may have gotten my foot in the door, but I definitely have more to do,” Kemerling said.
The Career Center offers other internship resources, including the Mployment Link, a 24-hour internship posting website for University students and a library with internship listings.
The Career Center is located in Room 3200 of the Student Activities Building.