<p>When do students typically begin to attend these events? Is it too early for a freshman or sophomore to attend? Do recruiters heavily favor graduate students or 3rd and 4th years? </p>
<p>Do students need to get internships after their 2nd or 3rd year? If so, does a 2nd year need to go to the career fair (to get internship for summer), or should that student wait until next year? </p>
<p>I am new to this so please help.</p>
<p>enjoy your freshman year. i would expect that you have to have some more experience before getting an internship, but you can try. its just that the chance of getting one as a freshman is expectedly low.</p>
<p>I agree with fastMEd. </p>
<p>Generally, junior year is the prime time for taking advantage of the opportunities at career fairs. Sometimes, sophomore year is OK. </p>
<p>It's fine to attend and get an idea of the recruiting process or what some of the companies offer. You can also get an idea of what they look for in their summer interns and you can work towards securing an internship later on in your college career. </p>
<p>As for 4th years - assuming they graduate their fourth year, the position(s) wouldn't necessarily be designated internships since the graduates are ready to be employed full-time. </p>
<p>No, no one necessarily needs to get internships. It is ideal, however, to get an idea of what you might want to do in the future with real experience in the workplace. </p>
<p>Not only that, check out BruinView from <a href="http://www.career.ucla.edu%5B/url%5D">http://www.career.ucla.edu</a> to see lists of company presentations since there are quite a few (and range) that make presentations at the Career Center on Westwood and Strathmore. It's a good chance, again, to network and get a feel for what might offer you.</p>
<p>The importance of securing internships also needs to be considerate of your major or your future career plans. For instance, if you want to get into more competitive fields (especially anything related to business), it's helpful to have work experience to get something to write on your resume and also, assurance (from both you and your future employers), that you know or have an ieda of what you're doing.</p>
<p>It's never too early to attend, because you get a chance to talk to people working in different fields. You can find out about their jobs, advice they'd offer to get into the field, things they wish they had known when they were in college, etc.</p>
<p>For most people (who are liberal-arts majors) their career is not going to be something directly related to their major. This is both good and bad. The good is that virtually any field is open to the liberal-arts grad. The bad is that you won't walk into a job the same way a engineering or nursing major might.</p>
<p>With the whole world open to you, it's wise to start frosh year exploring different areas to see what feels right for you. There are many, many job areas out there that the typical college student has never heard of; their life experience so far hasn't exposed them to many areas outside of what their parents and other adults they know do.</p>
<p>My advice it explore as many avenues as possible, as early as possible. Take advantage of the resources of the career center (counselors, brochures, testing, etc), attend career fairs, employer presentations, join clubs, talk to alums in fields you're considering, etc. Done from the start it's a low-intensity process that allows time for blind alleys, changing your mind, etc. Waiting until spring of your senior year means a frantic process of trying to figure out what to do and the unhappy discovery others are far ahead of you in preparation and experience.</p>
<p>As for internships, they are perhaps the most useful way of standing out from the crowd of other applicants. Put yourself in the hiring company's shoes. Would you rather hire someone who says they think they'd like doing the job you're filling based on the description you posted at the career center, or the kid who spent a summer actually doing the work and can explain in detail why it's a good fit for them? In fact eperience in the field is valuable virtually no matter what your future plans are. For med school, an unwritten requirement for admission is volunteer work so that you've actually experienced what you're getting into. Top science PhD programs expect you to have done lab work undergrad; before they admit you for 5+ years of research they want to see you know what it's like. And so on.</p>
<p>I'd advise being a bit crafty about the whole internship "game". At the most prestigious companies the process is very selective. But you can get a leg up by having relevant work already. Suppose, for example, you are interested in a marketing internship the summer after your junior year at Proctor & Gamble. Very competitive. But if you work with the career center you can hatch a plan to get a summer job in marketing at a LA-based company after your soph year, so when you apply to P&G your resume stands out. And to help get that soph job perhaps you can find something after frosh year at an even smaller company.</p>
<p>ATTN CHEMICAL ENGINEERING STUDENTS:</p>
<p>On Thursday, October 25, AIChE is hosting our annual chemical engineering career fair. All companies attending will be looking for chemical engineers. Companies that are attending include BP, Chevron, Conoco Phillips, ExxonMobil, BEHR, Clorox, Anheuser Busch, Applied Biosystems, and Frito Lay. </p>
<p>The event will take place from 11am to 4pm at Ackerman Grand Ballroom.</p>