Whether a freshman, Online and Professional Studies student or alumnus, a math major or a marketing major, California Baptist University’s annual “Meet The Firms” event provided the perfect place to start or continue networking with employers.
Following a year of planning, 25 companies ranging from the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department to the FBI gathered in Innovators Auditorium Sept. 29, ready to interact with students and graduates hoping to fill their open internships or job
positions.
“I always recommend, even if you are a freshman, to attend firm day,” said Lisa Singer, employer relations specialist and event coordinator.
Singer works year-round preparing students through mock interviews and meetings on how to build their resumes to give them their best chances at landing interviews for their dream careers.
Laura Acosta, associate director of the Career Center, encouraged attendees to bring 25 printed resumes to hand out to companies and to research beforehand how to ask perfectly articulated questions so they could distinguish themselves from others with their confidence and
preparation.
“Networking and being able to interact first-person with decision-makers and key people in the organization gives you a feel for what that company is about,” Acosta said. “(It) gives you that opportunity to get in front of and be able to interact with those people directly, versus just sending in random resumes or finding out about it online.”
Although not every person who attended the event is guaranteed an interview, a paid internship or a job offer, those who went like Lauren Mawhinney, junior business administration major, were sure to leave with more knowledge and skills.
“It was a great opportunity for me to expand my range and build my networking skills and allow me to discover what it is I really want in the different companies,” Mawhinney said.
