<p>I want to return to a potential concern OP may have had, and some other families might have, about getting back to campus from the BHM airport. </p>
<p>My S came home for Fall Break, and I completely forgot to book a shuttle for his return trip by the deadline (3 pm Friday). In a panic, with all of UA shut for the weekend, on Saturday morning, I resurrected an old email with some emergency ‘what if’ info on it, that I had received in previous years from UA Housing (which coordinates the shuttle) and called a couple numbers. I got hold of a very nice driver, who put me on to the Crimson Ride dispatch Supervisor, Mr. Delwin Fields. What a wonderful man!!! He told my S exactly what to do, then asked for both of our cell phone numbers so he could call us on Sunday to make sure everything went according to plan. He went above and beyond to assure me that he would personally see to it that my S would get back to campus safely, which he did.</p>
<p>I don’t know how many bone-headed parents like me forget to make these reservations by the deadlines, so I don’t know if my situation is commonplace or not…but still: UA just continues to amaze and thrill me, that every person we run into there goes above and beyond meeting our expectations and taking care of our students. ROLL TIDE!</p>
<p>I contacted our regional representative about the apparent lack of internships for engineering students at UA></p>
<p>I was provided a link to the co-op opportunities. </p>
<p>I would assume from that response that DS should not expect very much help in finding internships through UA.</p>
<p>He wasn’t really interested in extending college via co-ops, but maybe it is something worth considering. Just how important is “experience” when graduating from college? </p>
<p>He is planning on studying computer engineering, though that may change. </p>
<p>Also, on the original app for UA, he put undecided engineering, but I know someone suggested he would be better off declaring that major and change majors later if that doesn’t end up like he thinks. Would that be the better way of handling it?</p>
<p>I am not used to hearing about engineering students having internships. Dh and Ds are both engineers and co-oping is most prevalent. I asked dh and he did say that he does occasionally run into students who are interning, but at his corp, co-oping is definitely far more the norm.</p>
<p>Fwiw, it is the work experience that is vital. I don’t know about internships, but coops are designed to build engineering skills. I guess I don’t understand the reluctance for a coop. It gives a good idea about what industry offers. Our ds made about 2/3 of his BS level salary, was offered full benefits until he graduated, and the corp gave him scholarship $$ each semester until he graduated. He was under no obligation to accept a job from them when he graduated. He struggled with the decision bc his coop experience was excellent, but ultimately he chose a different company.</p>
<p>In Michigan we are very used to hearing about students having engineering internships-not co ops. The reluctance for going the co op route is that it extends your schooling and is extremely disruptive to your school experience. Not liking UA’s response at all.</p>
<p>Thanks for the list. Hoping it expands as it’s missing a lot of companies. @laralei it says what positions they are looking for after majors…FT PT IN etc.</p>
<p>Students can/should use career fairs in two ways.
go to any/all career fairs, to ‘force’ them to get in the habit of preparing and updating a resume (bring 5+ copies), learn to dress nicely for an interview, and practice putting themselves out there - the benefits of this step alone can’t be overstated; and/or
research the companies listed to see what types of jobs are available for when they do graduate, and in order to prepare a better resume and ‘spiel’ to said companies. even if their dream employer isn’t in attendance, they can get a lot of info from talking with similar companies, in similar jobs. the key is making contacts.</p>
<p>There is also a career fair in the fall, which may have a larger group of companies attending (can’t find that list right now, sorry, but I’ll keep trying when I have time to locate it).</p>
<p>People should not necessarily be too critical about UA’s efforts in this area. I’ve seen this list grow over the past few years, and it will continue to do so. The very best enterprising students will contact their dream company and ask that company (well in advance) why they <em>aren’t</em> at the UA career fair! If enough students did that, companies would start to take further notice of UA. ;)</p>
<p>The problem with just contacting dream companies such as Apple and Microsoft (which are not on the list) is that your chances are almost nonexistent of getting an internship or hired in after graduation. They hire interns and graduates primarily from their job fairs and go looking at select universities. It really is UA’s job to market their engineering department to these companies to best serve their students.
My best friend’s son landed a $100,000 job at Microsoft from the job fair at his university. He never would have ended up there if he had gone to Alabama. So, as I’ve said before, Alabama should spend some money on recruiting companies to their job fairs and probably not charge booth fees for a few years to help grow the job fairs. </p>
<p>Not charging booth fees is a great idea. I was shocked that they charge as much as they do. Companies are doing UA a favor, not necessarily the other way around!</p>
<p>Also, when preparing resumes and cover letters, use the same key words that the company’s job description uses, to maximise your chances of getting a 2nd look. With more and more hiring being done online, some (largest) companies use programs to scan incoming applications for key words and phrases. You can learn a great deal from reading the descriptions for many jobs that you do not yet qualify for, but hopefully will upon graduation. </p>
<p>I’m wondering if anyone has info for who/how many employers attend the UA Business Career Fair? (I searched the UA website and couldn’t find any list).</p>
<p>This morning, I wrote an email to Dr. Karr, Dean of the CoE. 17 minutes later he sent a reply! (quick!) He is bringing the concerns to the attention of the director of the job fairs. I will update as I learn more.</p>
<p>I tried to find the link for the Fall 2014 career fair for y’all…and from the email sent to students in September, it appears that a student needs to log into their Crimson Careers account to find the list of employers. Not sure why UA has changed so that this is no longer public info as it has been in the past. There were 180 employers listed as attending the September 2014 career fairs. Some of those attended both fairs (general/business + tech/eng’g), and some attended one or the other. Update: I used advance search feature to find that 101 employers attended General/Business and 106 employers attended Tech/Eng’g. </p>
<p>Here is excerpt from their email sent to students last Sept. They state they had a record # of employers attending. What specifically are people concerned about with this process?</p>
<p>How do I prepare for the Career Fairs?</p>
<ol>
<li> Research the organizations attending the Career Fairs</li>
</ol>
<p>A record number of employers will be attending each fair! For a list of the organizations attending the Career Fairs, log into your CrimsonCareers account [deleted]. Click on Events > Career Fairs > Fall 2014 Career Fairs. You can filter by day and see the companies are coming and the majors they are recruiting. Click on the company name to learn more about them and even express interest in advance. We recommend RSVPing to the event as it allows employers to see your default resume. For more information about researching employers, click here: <a href=“- YouTube”>- YouTube;
<ol>
<li> Stop by a Career Chat</li>
</ol>
<p>Career Chats serve as an opportunity to talk candidly with Career Center staff members in a group setting. We are offering one more opportunity to chat about the career fair and provide students with a career fair crash course on Tuesday, September 23rd at 1pm in 3400 Ferguson Center. Get all your questions answered and jitters out before the fair!</p>
<ol>
<li> Watch some quick videos</li>
</ol>
<p>Not sure what to expect? Check out this quick video for details about how to attend a career fair: <a href=“- YouTube”>- YouTube;
<p>Hey! Just wanted to chime in about my daughter’s experience as an out-of-state student who is a senior, majoring in CS and Statistics. I feel like I’ve been reading about a whole different university’s career fairs after reading this thread!!! I was blown away by the number of companies my daughter met with at the career fair last month and the number of companies contacting her for interviews. </p>
<p>Since we live in Hawaii, she never asked UA to help her find an internship, since she planned on coming home every summer and figured that they wouldn’t have many contacts in Hawaii, so I can’t speak a lot on that subject. She was able to find her own internship with NOAA for the summer of her sophomore year and they were so happy with her that they asked her back this past summer as well. I do know that some of her friends did find internships through the university, though. I know one interned with AT&T, not sure about the others, but I can ask her.</p>
<p>Since attending the career fair last month she has had multiple interviews with several large, nationwide companies, as well as a few smaller, local companies. She also has been offered an interview with Google, so I disagree that having attended the University of Alabama has in any way hindered her ability to land a job with a top company. She’s had one company already bring her out to Atlanta for onsite interviews and has two companies in Dallas that want her to come out there for further interviews. She has already received multiple job offers with impressive salaries, signing bonuses, and relocation assistance.</p>
<p>Good luck in your search and feel free to ask any questions! Believe me, I understand how hard it is to send your child so far away from home. She only comes home for Christmas and summer. Staying on campus during other breaks has never been a problem, and she always has people inviting her home with them for Thanksgiving or other breaks. She did not have a car her freshman year, but always able to find people that would give her a ride to the airport or she would share a cab. I’ll try to come back here more often and answer any questions you have.</p>
<p>Thank you for the great info. Very reassuring to know Bama is making sure their kids succeed! We toured various schools this past month and some were upfront with how many companies attended college fairs and others were not as clear with their info. So glad to know (not just from UA staff, but from actual parents and students) that Bama is on top of things! </p>
If enough students did that, companies would start to take further notice of UA. ;)</p>
</p>