Smith School students impress employers at the annual career fair

The Robert H. Smith School of Business held their 2012 Undergraduate Career Fair on September 14 in Riggs Alumni Center with 84 companies in attendance to recruit students as potential employees and interns.

The participant response was terrific with 850 students present, 150 more than last year. The 86 available booths completely sold out, which hasn't occurred since 2008 according to Jeanni Simpson, the Assistant Director of Undergraduate Programming for the Smith School.

Many things were different than in previous years, including the use of swipe technology to help count the students as they entered. Also, a marketing and information systems student, Brittany Walker, redesigned the usually generic program cover. Simpson says they plan on doing a cover design contest next year that business school students can participate in.

The school also added the Career Fair First Look for freshmen and sophomores. Because many of the younger students feel a little overwhelmed and overshadowed by the older more experienced juniors and seniors, the fair was opened earlier in the day specifically for the younger students to alleviate some of the pressure.

Another way students were helped out was in an information session the night before the career fair that helped tell them what exactly to expect. Under Armour, Enterprise, and CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield sponsored the workshop that helped guide students in resume writing and talked to them about business etiquette.

Many big companies came out to the fair for the first time including Dell, Edward Jones, Geico and JB Hunt. The investment bank Stifel Nicolaus Weisel, located in both New York City and Baltimore, was a last minute addition that Simpson was excited about because "we want to get a greater presence of Smith Alumni in Wall Street."

Apparently the University of Maryland made a good impression on these companies. According to Simpson, Textron Inc. called it "the best career fair they've ever attended."