International Students Career Fair ‘21: A Virtual Experience
By: Dara Udobong ‘23
Every year, USC hosts career fairs for its students: curated events that bring students and recruiters together for the provision of internship opportunities and even full-time offers. Traditionally, career fairs take place on Trousdale Parkway, the thoroughfare of our University Park Campus. Employers would visit campus during the fair and line up in booths along the parkway that students could visit one after the other. Spread across a number of days, the career fair features days for unique presentations as well as companies geared towards specific audiences: such as Departmental Career Fairs for individual schools or the International Students Career Fair. As an international student myself, the International Students Career Fairs have been so resourceful in providing global opportunities for students from different countries and bringing international students closer to jobs that sponsor certain visa types.
This year, the Career Fair came in a whole new way: virtually! Partnering with AUCA—the American Universities’ China Association—USC used the digital platform called Brazen Connect in a two-day career fair to bring students closer to employers. From March 30th to March 31st, companies including PWC (a consulting firm), Unilever, Byte Dance, AlphaSights and more participated in search of the unique global perspective our international students have to offer. The platform featured waiting rooms and chatrooms that students could virtually enter after signing in to talk to employers one-on-one. Indicators on the screen showed when a representative was available, allowing students to either move up in the virtual line or join a room. Unlike the in-person experience, the digital platform providing a more paced feel, allowing students to build more structured relationships with companies. The virtual experience not only cut the waiting time to talk to company representatives, it also allowed for digital submission of documents such as resumes and cover letters. Remember the warm days of standing in line with a folder full of documents? Neither do I! Even as we move back into a more in-person workspace, the virtual career fair provides an easy and efficient means for students to vie for global opportunities, no matter where there are.
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