College Guidance Center Holds 2008 Job Fair: Wired 2B Hired

Excitement and anticipation were in the air as jobs were made within grasp during the February 4 to 5, 2008 Job Fair.   With the efforts of the College Guidance Center, a total of 18 companies representing diverse local, national and international industries flocked to the Ateneo to participate in the two-day on-campus recruitment.   Within this allotted schedule, submission of resumes, sign-ups, initial interviews, company orientations and for some companies, initial screening tests were simultaneously conducted.   To name a few, the following were the companies and organizations who joined in the on-campus Job Fair: SYKES Asia Inc., Accenture, Go Global Pinoy Co. and Sutherland, Coca-Cola Bottlers Inc., Kumon Naga City, Fujitsu Philippines, Union Galvasteel Inc., Picozenith Inc., EKM Consultancy Inc., John Clements Inc., BIGGS, Bayan Telecommunications Inc., Golden Arches Inc., (Mc Donalds), Metrobank, Smart Communications Inc., Ateneo IELTS and the Gov. L-Ray Programs on English Proficiency, Nihonggo and  Information Technology.  

Various venues inside the campus were used during the event.   For accepting and submitting resumes, entertaining inquiries and for the conduct of job interviews, the open and sprawling space in the Xavier Hall was most helpful.   For the conduct of company talks and orientation, the Arrupe Convention Hall was utilized.   While for the conduct of tests, various venues in the University like the Training Room in the Center for Local Governance, the Testing Room in the Institutional Testing Center and selected areas in the James O’ Brien Library proved to be most useful.

Students especially the senior-graduating group, prepared for the event by readying copies of their resumes and by dressing up for the interviews and tests.   Since the conduct of activities mentioned above were simultaneously held, the students had to schedule, choose and prioritize which activities to participate in to ensure that major fields of interests were given due importance.    Student feedbacks and evaluation on the event revealed that the activity was generally satisfying for them.   Request for more company invites related to their respective fields of interests was one of the most consistent recommendations made.   On the other hand, feedback from the participating companies revealed that they were also generally satisfied with the result of the activity.   For some who just came to gather sign-ups and resumes for processing, a relatively satisfying number of resumes and sign-ups justified the long travel that they had to make just to be able to join the Fair.   While companies who conducted interviews and tests were also satisfied with the number of students whom they reported were able to pass the tests and whose test results were relatively competitive and high compared to the other on-campus Job Fairs they had participated in.    To back up this claim, majority of this year’s participating companies were willing to return for next year’s Job Fair activity.

Indeed, the purpose for which the Job Fair was conducted was met.   For some of our graduating students, employment now awaits them after graduation.   At the least, participants were able to get their first-hand experience on an actual job recruitment process.   The confidence and the learning gained from experiences in an actual job interview may make job search and job hunting after graduation a relatively familiar ground.  Also, participating companies, with the number of qualified applicants gathered, were able to appreciate the competencies of our students.