Is the career fair a good way to get potential summer internships? My DS also gets emails on information sessions from specific companies and I was curious to hear from people with experience on the best way to make those connections for summer internships. The internship he had this summer (just finished Freshman year) was through local networking in our hometown.
Several of the representatives at the career fair will be looking for interns. You can view a list here of the employers that will be in attendance, the majors they are recruiting, and if they are looking for interns: https://ua-csm.symplicity.com/events/index.php#/events/05ae1d257f3f0edad3ef62763a5eba6a/employers Personally, I believe how successful it is will be dependent on major, but I would encourage all students to attend, if nothing else to gain experience in talking to potential employers. Students need to be dressed professionally to attend the job fair or they will not be allowed to enter.
Thank you for the information!
You will get a lot of “career fair was a waste of time” from posters on this forum. (my son was probably one of those)
As a parent, I know that regardless of which companies are at the career fair, students will get valuable experience learning how to prepare a resume, how to dress for success, how to talk to a variety of employers about themselves, and learning how to self-promote themselves in a very short space/time. Do go to this opportunity, for both full-time employment and for internships - you may not get something out of it in terms of a job, but the other intangibles should not be overlooked. You will make contacts! Good luck with this for your son.
It’s all about networking and making connections. Take some resumes in case a potential employer asks.
Depending on the industry you’re seeking to get an internship in, you can try using LinkedIn. Several of my son’s friends went on LI and private messaged managing partners at investment banks they wanted to work out. They were able to get some interviews since this showed how tenacious and ambitious they were.
My daughter is a senior. She’s attended every career fair (although sometimes only for a short time, as it’s usually held when she has class). To date she has had no luck with getting a job, an internship or even an interview as a result. She’s hoping this year will be better, but realizes she’s unlikely to find anything through the career fair and will need to find something on her own. I agree with aeromom that there may be intangible benefits, and students should attend if they can.
The General Interest & Business career fair is happening today. Engineering & Technical is tomorrow Feb 18th. Education and Communication are coming up in March.
See here for details: https://career.sa.ua.edu/employers/career-fairs/ (click on a fair date for more info on how to register)
Even if you are not yet at the stage of looking for employment…attending this is a good opp to dress up, press the flesh, prepare a resume, get experience with talking about yourself to professionals, etc.
Here is a list of companies attending (184 over the 2 days): https://ua-csm.symplicity.com/events/index.php?id=c049e1f8bb47d89248b12ff27c426ace&PHPSESSID=7b4c31e4dc463bb72017eca22d6c4958#/events/c049e1f8bb47d89248b12ff27c426ace/employers
DS (senior) was recently contacted out of the blue to interview for an entry level job. He never applied, didn’t even know the company. Turns out he had left a resume with them at last year’s fair while looking for internships. You never know how you’ll benefit from attending the fair.
DS decided not to attend the career fair today. Most of the jobs, understandably, are in Alabama. He already has a great job offer in Huntsville, and would only turn it down for a better offer outside Alabama.
I have to admit, for an engineering fair, the exhibitor list is a little weak. For example, the largest industry employing engineers is aerospace/defense. Lockheed is the only major company there. No Boeing, Northrop, United Technologies, Raytheon, BAE Systems, Honeywell, GE, General Dynamics, Textron, Harris, Rockwell, NASA, etc. If UA Engineering wants to step up to the big time, it needs to beef up recruiting presence of major national companies.
@Chardo, it would be great if you would communicate that with UA admin. President Bell is actively seeking input from parents: https://www.ua.edu/strategicplan/
Spring job fairs are always smaller than fall, for whatever reason. Also, a lot of companies that attend the fall, may decide to not attend in the spring. Here’s a link to UF"s spring fair. You can compare those companies with those that attended UA. UF is fairly well recruited by aerospace/defense employers, but many of those same companies (Boeing, Northrop, etc) didn’t attend UF"s spring fair. 
http://www.crc.ufl.edu/assets/files/events/Spring2016UFCRC_ShowcaseDirectory.pdf
Side Note: Last year UA awarded 5,400 BS degrees, based on the current undergraduate class size (and keeping the freshman class flat), we can expect, within a few years, that this number will grow to 8,000+ BS degrees a year (compare to other comparable sized schools). That will do more to grow the number of employers that attend these job fairs, than anything else anyone could do.
@chardo I agree with your assessment that there are not many national companies represented for the career fair. As an example, for Chem E, I do not see Exxon Mobil, Phillips, Chevron, BP. For ME, There are not any equipment makers or components, i.e. Cat, Deere, AGCO, GM, Ford, Haldex, Rexroth, Cummins, etc. They really should target those types of companies to raise the profile.
@Gator88NE I think you are correct about why we do not see a lot of the national companies looking for engineers is because the number of graduates is low, 2014 485 degrees (130 ME degrees). There is not enough bang for the buck for the big employers to send down recruiters. ISU has one of the biggest job fairs and graduated 1155 engineers (316 ME). UIUC 2012 enginering graduates and UF 1217 engineering graduates.
UA needs to get to about 1200 to 1500 engineering grads. Then the big players will come to recruit because more to choose from. This may happen in the next few years now that the undergrad population is at about 5500.