Conversation filled the Union Building Ballroom on Thursday afternoon as students handed out resumes, networked and gained insight on varying industries at the 31st annual career fair.
Liz Freedman, a career advisor at the Hubbard Center said the career fair is for all classes, not just seniors.
"We do the career fair here on campus to give opportunities to our students so students can come and just network with people and ask them about their job, their industry or their organization," she said. "Maybe a lot of underclassmen like to do that for some career exploration,"
Students found out about the career fair through many resources, such as through TigerTracks, emails and the Hubbard Center's Twitter page.
Almost of the employers present at the fair had at least one alumnus present at their table to talk to DePauw students, including Kyle Sherer '11.
"I came back [for the career fair] because I was fortunate enough to have an alumna reach out to me and offer me a job, so I thought, 'Why not try and give back?'" Sherer said.
Sherer works for Accretive Health, a health care consulting company based out of Chicago.
Most of the companies present have entry-level jobs to offer students right out of college. However, some companies or organizations were only there to recruit interns.
Most importantly, the fair was a chance for students to network and think about possible majors and jobs. First-year Sam Alkema knew alumni would be present and was most interested in hearing from them.
"I just wanted to figure out where they were working and any opportunities that could be present in the near future," Alkema said.
Although over 40 organizations and companies attended the career fair, one fixture of the past was not in attendance.
"The Peace Corps didn't come due to the government shut down," Freedman said.
The career fair at DePauw has grown over the years to the point that it has had to move some tables out of the ballroom and into the main level of the Hubbard Center.
The fair had a wide range of companies and organizations present for various fields such as healthcare, marketing, finance and banking and technology, but it lacked smaller businesses and non-mainstream job opportunities such as jobs related to journalism, art and culture.
"I think [the career fair] is a great thing to have. There should be more of them throughout the year and not as late as October," Sherer said. "I think from a student perspective, they could do a better job of bringing in more companies. There's a select group of companies here."
First-year Camille Refauvelet also thought that the career fair only represented selective fields of work.
"I got the email about [the career fair]," Refauvelet said, "but I didn't go because most of the companies that are represented are for business or finance and that is not my center of interest."
