On Wednesday, the Office of Student Success hosted Chaminade University’s first in-person Career Carnival since the start of Covid-19 on the Zuberano Lawn from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Pono Internship Fund, and talk to different employers of their interest.
“At the last career fair, employers mentioned that there was no foot traffic and they weren’t very happy with the amount of engagement from students,” said CUH careers advisor Diane Yang, who planned the entire event. “It’s hard to get out of a pandemic because virtual settings are completely different from in-person networking.”
All the employers who were invited to connect with the university students at the carnival were Kupu, Kamehameha Schools, Enterprise, Target, Northwestern Mutual, Make-A-Wish Hawaii, Hawaii Marine Animal Response, Hawaii Behavioral Health, Hawaii National Bank and Aramark.
In order for students to engage with each company, attendees were given a passport sheet that was required to be signed by each table for a chance to win a goody bag and entered to win a giveaway.
Yang said this was meant to be different from the traditional career fair where students had to feel like they had to dress up. Rather, they can foster career development in a casual environment and connect with people.
“This is an informal way for people to practice networking and connecting with people in the industry outside of an interview setting,” she said. “Employers make first impressions based on how you conduct your conversation with them in a cubicle, if you’re there meeting and sharing opportunities with them and so communication is very important.”
Students who checked out the event wanted to find an opportunity of their interest and related to their career rather than settling for an experience just for the money.
“I’d rather be happy with what I’m doing and make money than be unhappy with it,” said first-year Environmental and Interior Design major Callei-Rose Lee. “I feel like a lot of us have financial worries about the future, so a job would help with that.”
For other students, the intimate setting was convenient for them to interact socially with employers they had never heard of before.
“I feel like it’s a lot more comfortable here to reach out and talk to people because we (our generation) aren’t really used to reaching out and talking to people that much,” said first-year Criminology major Tanya Paia. “I think it’s important for Chaminade to have these events because students will obviously have more opportunities to get jobs and this is an avenue for them.”
Although it’s common for students to think they should know exactly what they’re going to do right after college, many of the participating employers were willing to give students their first professional experience in the world of work.
“We’re looking for students who are coachable, someone who is open-minded and willing to take feedback,” said Northwestern Mutual director of practice development, Ivy Martin. “Even if you don’t like something, you can pick up some transferable skills if you decide to go down a different path.”
Martin, who has previously attended virtual career workshops with Chaminade, said it was difficult to contact students before the event because of the pandemic.
Some of the employers even talked about their personal experiences finding employment during and after college, which forced them to be open-minded and learn more about themselves.
“My thing coming out of college was ‘you can just be a doctor or a lawyer or an engineer and that’s it,’ but in the whole conservation field, I realized there are over a million jobs you can do out there,” said Kupu’s recruitment specialist. Anna Garcia. “I think whenever you’re in high school and college, you kind of have a set plan and somebody that’s telling you what to do next, so it’s easy to follow that path,” Anna Garcia said. she.
Garcia said she had worked as Kupu’s recruitment specialist for just three days before the career carnival and had worked as a service member with Kupu under the CLDP (Conservation Leadership Development Program) during her senior year as an undergraduate student at 2021. She graduated with her Bachelor’s in Biology from the University of Hawaii at Manoa in May.
With the presence of many resources outside of Chaminade, there were also CUH staff members who also hoped to connect students with opportunities related to their major and desired career.
“There are opportunities everywhere and this is just a sample of what it is, but the great thing about these is that they are all connected to each other,” said Chaminade’s Director of Instructional Services Mitch Steffey. “It’s more about exploring what you can do and how you fit into the world.”
Steffey said the newly revamped Service Learning program will launch this January he rebuilt it from the ground up.
“Part of what we do in part is helping students get into different careers because if you’re volunteering in a community, you can volunteer somewhere you want to work directly with and get to know people outside of Chaminade,” Steffey said.
She was the case of a Chaminade student who sought an employer more closely related to his major.
“It was a good opportunity for other majors, but especially business majors,” said sophomore Forensic Science major Isaiah Atalig.
Atalig said he had the privilege of completing a six-week summer internship at UCLA learning about their medical school and anatomy., which helped him prepare for his future related to his degree. He was introduced to the line of work through the Director of the Research and Pre-Professional Program of CUH, Dr. Amber Noguchi.
“I’m always worried about my deadline. I feel like if you worry about your career now, you won’t have to worry about it in the future, so having an idea of what you want to do will make you feel more determined,” he said.
