By Signal Editorial Board
The College’s Career Center holds its biannual Career and Internship Fair every fall and spring, open to all majors. However, majors within the School of the Arts and Communication bear the brunt of having the fewest opportunities available to them.
Based on the career platform Handshake’s list of registered employers for the fair, over 100 companies were slated to attend on Feb. 26. Despite many employers advertising themselves as open to all majors, approximately three were explicitly hiring from the ArtsComm pool based on their advertised sector.
The Career Center’s Interim Director Audrey Cooper told The Signal in a statement that the Career Center reaches out to a wide range of organizations across several industries, including arts, media, nonprofit, education and government to participate in the fair. Additionally, she recommended that students explore job descriptions, not solely the company names themselves to discover opportunities.
While this strategy may be effective, many ArtsComm majors may feel discouraged to even attend because of the lack of relevant keywords in their initial employer search. Students can and should seek opportunities in seemingly unrelated companies, but these employers are more likely to prioritize candidates with backgrounds aligned to their industry.
The Career Center told The Signal that Keystone Engineering Group was specifically looking for design majors. However, a quick look into their “Opportunities” page suggests otherwise. Of the six listings, only the “electrical designer” role aligns — and it requires complex engineering design experience that traditional design majors may lack.
Even if employers are advertised as open to a variety of majors and educational backgrounds, there is not much room for ArtsComm success. For BioNJ and First Bank, two companies who are marked as “Hiring all majors” on Handshake, descriptions do not suggest much diversity in their hiring practices. BioNJ advocates for “careers in pharma, biotech, medical device technology, clinical operations and medical diagnostics,” and First Bank specializes in commercial banking and credit.
Business, engineering and medical students have an unfair advantage of direct options at their fingertips, whereas students in creative fields must network and research unconventional opportunities, as their roles may not be as clearly represented.
Cooper shared that the Career Center has worked on strengthening efforts to build more diverse career outreach programs, such as the Career Exploration Series, “which features panels with professionals from media, arts, nonprofit, and government sectors.” However, these events are not intended to provide job opportunities, rather advice and information from those who are already employed in a desired field. While this is helpful, students also deserve a career fair experience more aligned with their career goals.
The College holds the Education Opportunities Fair every spring, separate from the general career fair, to give students in the School of Education an opportunity to connect with school districts and education-related employers. A similar tailored approach could be applied to ArtsComm majors, giving them the opportunity to connect with media organizations, art museums and other creative companies without the uncertainty of navigating unrelated fields.
