More than 75 employers and 500 students attended Elon’s biannual Job and Internship Expo on March 8.
By Sarah Collins ‘18
More than 500 students attended Elon’s Spring 2018 Job and Internship Expo on Thursday afternoon in Alumni Gym to network with professionals and discuss potential internship and career opportunities. Just a handful of the employers represented at the Expo included Allstate Benefits, Credit Suisse, ESPN, Hanesbrands and Volvo Group.
Tom Brinkley, the executive director of Elon’s Student Professional Development Center, identified the spring and fall Expos as Elon’s biggest professional events of the year. “Employers are telling us they like face-to-face contact with students,” Brinkley says. “Students are sometimes more comfortable reaching out to employers via technology, so this is a good experience for them to have direct contact with employers.”
Brinkley says that employers seek out Elon students and graduates for a number of reasons. “We hear time and time again that Elon grads are prepared, they make positive first impressions and that they’re engaging to talk to,” he says. “Our grads are also well-rounded. Employers like that many of our students have applied experience through internships, and they like that Elon students are involved in service.”
Many Elon alumni return to campus to represent their companies at the expo. Alumnus Adam Altmark ’17 works as an associate consultant for Call Box, a marketing analytics company in Dallas. “Thinking about when I was an Elon student, I wanted to know what life was like post-grad,” he says. “So coming here and speaking to students at the Job and Internship Expo, and even visiting classrooms, I’ve been able to share that experience with everyone.”
Elon’s biannual Job and Internship Expos have grown significantly since the first event was held in 2011. The inaugural expo featured just 30 companies and 250 student attendees – now, it is standard for Elon to host between 75 and 90 employers and at least twice the initial number of student attendees.
Brinkley says the SPDC has been working to strategically develop relationships with employers in the top markets for Elon graduates. The top five post-grad destinations for 2017 graduates were New York City, Boston, Washington D.C., the Raleigh-Durham area and Charlotte.
Students are able to take a virtual look at the employers represented at the Expo by downloading the mobile app “Career Fair Plus.” This app allows students to learn more about employers, sign up for on-campus interviews and browse open positions at each company.
The Job and Internship Expo also provides the opportunity for all students to participate in virtual interview sessions. These Skype sessions allow students to directly engage with employers who are not able to travel to campus. This year, students participated in virtual interview sessions with Golin, Ketchum, FEMA, The Madison Square Garden Company and Weber Shandwick.
For more information on career preparation resources at Elon, visit the Student Professional Development Center in Moseley 140. The office is open weekdays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. The SPDC also has satellite offices in the School of Communications, the Koury Business Center, Global Commons and Koury Athletics.