Researching the Career Fair

So I spent some time today investigating my university's career center.

It was a novelty I skipped in undergrad, primarily because I had already snagged myself an internship with a theatre that would later go on to win the Tony for Best Regional... but before it did so, the person with whom I was supposed to intern left the country, leaving me in a brand-new city with no real idea of what to do next (this is, btw, the story of how I became a telemarketer).

But I went online to see what kind of opportunities were available.

They'll meet with me to discuss my career goals and give me what appears to be a free resume critique, which seems useful enough.

There are a few Myers-Briggs-type tests that I can take. (Bonus points for anyone who can successfully guess my Myers-Briggs identification.)

There's a place for me to submit my resume online and have it be considered for any available jobs that come through, rather like Monster.com.

And then there's the spring career fair.

Great! I thought. Let's see what kind of careers they're showing off!

Of the 71 companies/corporations recruiting at the career fair, twenty are insurance companies. I never knew there were so many insurance companies (and these are just the ones within a 100-mile radius).

The remaining are split between accounting, banking, law enforcement, industrial work, supermarket chains, health care, and the armed forces.

Oh, and Enterprise Rent-A-Car, which bears the honor of employing the largest number of immediate college graduates nationwide, five years running. (For a sort of post-and-riposte on working at Enterprise, click here -- and read the comments!)

I have to admit I was a little disenhearted by the recruiting pool, which seemed to me very one-sided. Where, for example, was Harpo Productions? Where was Steppenwolf or the Goodman, or the Art Institute? What about McGraw-Hill? These places also have entry-level jobs. We have the cultural and artistic wealth of one of our country's major cities within our backyard, and each of those individual organizations has a staff ranging from copywriters to number-crunchers to publicity assistants. They won't employ as many people as Enterprise, but...

I suppose if I want to meet companies that aren't visiting our career fair, I'll have to do the legwork myself. Maybe that's for the best. I'll be a candidate... with initiative!