Career Services helps prepare students for life after college. One of the ways they help students is by hosting the Fall Career, Internship and Grad School Fair, which took place on Oct. 23. Attending a career fair provides students the opportunity to network with potential employers.

 CWU Career Services Director Vicki Sannuto wants students to not underestimate the value of face-to-face communication with employers. 

“Even though you can go online and apply for jobs and the job markets really good right now, some employers really want to see the students,” Sannuto said. 

According to Sannuto, students shouldn’t be concerned about being judged by their appearance.Sannuto said companies or recruiters want more than just the resume. 

That’s why companies have moved to Skype or other video services when an in-person interview isn’t possible.

According to Sannuto, the number one thing employers look for is experience in positions they’re looking for. If you don’t have the experience, don’t let it stop you. 

“Even if you don’t have experience, if they think that you have the right kind of attitude than they’re probably [going to] want to talk to you,” Sannuto said.

Students were required to sign in before attending the event. According to Sannuto, the turnout was really good. Last fall 450 people showed up and this year the fair got almost 200 more.

“I’m hoping that faculty are telling students to come out to more career [events] to get an early start you know at looking at internships or trying to figure out what kinds of jobs they want to get,” Sannuto said. 

Freshman Noah Slade who’s a pre-veterinarian biological science major attended the event to look at possible internship opportunities, possibly during his sophomore year. Slade said he wouldn’t mind studying in France since he speaks a little French. 

“Networking’s probably one of the biggest things in finding a job, but it’s also good for people that don’t know what they want to do to find different [ideas for] careers,” Slade said. 

Andre Sinn, recruiter and detective  for the Seattle Police Department said it’s probably the department’s 15th year coming to CWU.

“We love coming over to colleges that have criminal justice programs that’s always been a great venue for us and we have hired candidates from [CWU] over the years,” Sinn said. 

Sinn also said the department has spoken to CWU’s criminal justice department and students directly. 

“My partner had a visit scheduled to CWU I believe it was last year 2018, perhaps 2017,” Sinn said.

According to Sinn, having that open dialogue with students provides the opportunity for the students to understand why and how things are done within the criminal justice industry. Career Services sent out a survey to students who attended, according to Sannuto. 

Career Services uses the information from the survey to see how they can improve events in the future. Sannuto also said 65 organizations attended the career fair. CWU was also represented at the event, CWU provides students with internship and job opportunities. Sannuto said career fairs have been going on for over 20 years at CWU. 

Michael Myers, a senior in sociology with a minor in marketing, said seeing Career Services put on events like this shows him that CWU wants students to succeed after graduation.