North Carolina A&T is known around the country for having one of the largest career fairs out of any historically black college or university, but ask students here on campus, and you may find a difference of opinion.

Many students complain that they don’t even go to the career fair because there is never anyone from their majors, and they feel it is only for engineering and business students. While it may not seem like it, the truth is that all of the blame may not rest on the people who organize the career fair and set up the program.

Joyce Edwards, executive director of career services and experiential learning, explained that in coordinating the career fair the Office of Career Services (OCS) uses a database with over 4,000 different company contacts from across the U.S. and they also take suggestions from the deans of every department to aid in the deciding who should be invited.

Cynthia Downing, assistant director for Career Counseling Programs, explained that representatives from A&T’s OCS attend conferences that target specific majors in order to compile information for their extensive database system.  Downing also said that the OCS has also formed a partnership committee with representatives from each college to aid the department and exchange information so that the event benefits everyone.  She stated that there were over 2,000 employers invited for the career fair that specifically seek arts and science majors.

“We invite a broad spectrum but it all depends on who decides to accept that invitation and that’s what it all boils down to,” Downing said.  “All those companies that came to the [career fair] have positions for arts and science majors.  They may be looking for one particular segment, but if a student networks with them, asks them who recruits for their particular major at the company they can get a contact, so if nothing else it has been a good networking event for them.  They really have to understand what they want to do with their major, if they are in arts and sciences depending on what they want to do with their major, based on that they can find out how that major fits within that company and then when they approach the recruiter they can let them know ‘this is what we can do for your company’.”

Both Edwards and Downing alluded to students who majored in journalism and mass communications, English, and political science and found success in companies that specialized mainly in technology such as Vanguard and BMW.Downing also gave her own personal account of how she was a political science major in college but she also took some classes in business. 

“In my first job, I worked in an accounting department in taxes so my first job didn’t even have anything to do with arts and sciences,” Downing said.  “I did something else with it, but it’s just a matter of what you want to do with your degree as well and so that’s what’s going to help you.”

“Our message to the students is that it’s important that they network at every opportunity and our website has a lot of information on it, but if you go over to that fair and you didn’t prepare and you don’t have a plan, you’re going to get that reaction when you go over there because you’re not ready,” said Edwards.  Downing also mentioned job postings, e-mailed announcements and Aggielink, a nationwide database for gaining information on employers in search of college students, as alternate methods of finding employment outside of the career fair.

“We even had a company, Fox 8 News, that was [at the career fair] and they have about 40 positions they’re looking to hire for at their company and they’re looking for communications majors there,” said Downing.  “But if students don’t actually research and see who’s coming and know what they want to do they miss out on opportunities.”

Edwards also emphasized the importance of researching the companies who send recruiters to A&T in search of qualified students in all majors.

“Even though NSA is technical they look for all majors, but if you didn’t do your research then you wouldn’t have known that,” Edwards said.  “The CIA and a lot of those federal agencies will have positions for non-technical majors.  If you look at your major and box yourself into one avenue then you’re going to miss the boat.  All your major, your degree, does is show that you have the ability to learn, the ability to gather information and then take that learned information and apply it to any situation.  So we encourage the students to start looking at what’s available and put their best foot forward instead of spending their time and energy talking about what’s not there.”     

• Marcus Thompson