The Hopkins Center for the Arts will be teeming with job-seekers today and tomorrow as the Center for Professional Development hosts its annual Employee Connections Fair.
The CPD has hosted the fair for over a decade, but the employers present have changed with evolving student interests. In recent years, students can walk through sections for technology, service and educational sectors that have been added to the more dominant fields of consulting and finance.
Monica Wilson, senior associate director of the CPD, said that her focus has been to make sure that students explore as many companies and industries as possible. She added that the informal atmosphere of the event provides a forum for students to explore, but not make any commitments or have to bring a resume. The different set of employers on each day contributes to the feeling of the fair being two different events, Wilson said.
“I always hear of students applying to jobs that they would not have known about unless they had gone to the fair,” she said.
Other universities and colleges hold similar events, though many opt for smaller industry-focused events rather than such a large-scale fair, she said. The Thayer School of Engineering will host its own career fair next week, which will heavily feature engineering and technology employers.
For the past three years, Wilson estimates that over 1000 students have attended the fair over its two-day span.
Kevin Cox ’13 and Lilly Cassidy ’16 will both be representing their respective companies at the fair. Both alumni attended the fair while they were undergraduates at the College.
Cox, who currently works at Audax Group, a private equity firm focused on providing capital for middle market companies, initially found out about the company when he attended the fair as a sophomore at the College. Cox said the fair sets up freshmen and sophomores to put themselves in the best position possible for future recruiting. He also said that juniors looking for a possible internship can discover their interests in companies that they did not know of before. And personally, he’s happy to be back informing Dartmouth students about Audax.
“It’s great to be back on the other end of the table,” he said.
Cassidy similarly discovered biotech and pharmaceutical consulting firm Trinity Partners, where she currently works, at the fair during her time as an undergraduate. Cassidy will be one of four representatives for the company tomorrow. Trinity Partners will also return for the Thayer career fair next week.
Tyler Lakin, of Oxeon Partners, will also be representing his company at the fair. Lakin has worked with the CPD for several years now, including with his former company before joining Oxeon, and it’s a partnership that’s been “super helpful” to him as an employer.
Lakin said that the Center does a great job helping companies know what types of things Dartmouth students look for in a prospective job, which is especially helpful at Oxeon, a healthcare start up “focused on making people healthier.” Lakin also noted that he has considered the event to be well-attended in his years attending the fair.
Wilson emphasized that the fair is not just for upperclassmen.
Students can register for the fair through Dartboard. The fair is informational and students’ resumes will not be collected. On both days, it will run from noon to 4 p.m.
