Nonprofits, Youth Development, Tesla Part of SMC's Spring 2018 Job Fair
SMC once again held the spring 2018 semester’s job fair on the quad this Tuesday, May 8. The employer who attended this year's fair included many new participants in addition to those who regularly visit.
At SMC’s Career Services booth, counselor Rachelle Cohn-Schneider and faculty leader Vicki Rothman offered tips for students and noted trends.
The counselors noted that internships are great for career opportunities, mentioning growth in health care, entertainment and “Silicon Beach” tech. Notable recent internships included those for the Ellen DeGeneres show, Google, and Yahoo.
They emphasized that majors were less relevant to career satisfaction than other factors. “[Careers] are less about a major, it’s about internships, the people you meet, and the pathway students find," Cohn-Schneider said. "Your major and the college you go to should open doors, not lock you in or close you down to [possibilities.]”
Rothman and Cohn-Schneider agreed that the current crop of job seekers often leave less satisfying career jobs quickly. “This generation is going to have multiple careers, as many as ten," Rothman said. "In previous generations, workers might stay at least a year in a job, but this generation … if they’re not happy, they might realize ‘this is not for me’, and they move, maybe within 6 months.”
Next - a shiny black Tesla - its gull-wing doors open to full effect - welcomed job applicants to its rep’s booth near the library; this was Tesla’s first time at the job fair, and a line of interested students queued to sign up for interviews.
At Freedom Fashion’s booth, rep Laverne Delgado-Small explained that the non-profit “uses beauty and fashion to help women and youth overcome the effects of sex-trafficking and other injustices,” and offered students opportunities in design, event production, fundraising, and public relations, as well as business-related office work.
The South Bay Regional Public Communications Authority seeks help fielding 911 calls and dispatching emergency personnel. The employers explained that the jobs are demanding, and entail a substantial background check – staff there are privy to sensitive information and technology. But they also said that successful applicants can expect steady work with overtime, great benefits, and the satisfaction of helping communities in a crisis.
At the Royal Business Bank booth, representatives explained they were looking for applicants “who showed great motivation and passion for the banking industry”; applicants who stood out this way would be well-noted in the hiring process. The bank offers training for new hires, and services both corporate and private clients.
Meanwhile, students swarmed the LAUSD’s Youth Development Program booth that offered $15/hour part-time work year-round, as after-school enrichment specialists in arts, music, dance, tech/multimedia, science/engineering and more.
For students who missed the event, they can get a complete list of participants, including contact details, at the SMC Career Counseling office.
With the job fair over for the semester, SMC plans to hold their Internship and Volunteer Fair will be held on Tuesday, May 22, from 10 a.m. – 1 p.m. on SMC’s main campus quad.