The University Career Center and the Department of Clothing, Textiles and Interior Design collaborated to host the third annual career fair for fashion students in need of internships on Tuesday.
The organizations sought out five companies to attend and talk with interested students: Belk, Hibbett, Buckle, Soca Clothing and Carter’s.
“It’s really important once you meet someone and make an impression on them. They might tell someone else, ‘I met this great student from The University of Alabama, you should totally talk to them,’ and that leads to one thing after another,” said Brian Taylor, senior instructor and interim chair in the Department of Clothing, Textiles and Interior Design.
Each table had representatives from the respective companies chatting with fashion students and allowing for questions about upcoming summer internship opportunities.
“It’s really important for students just to get their face out there so that when people [companies] are looking for an intern or for that entry level position, the person hiring can say, ‘Oh, I know the perfect person for this job,’” Taylor said.
Tammy Donaldson, employer relations program director at the UA Career Center, said the chances that students get to have at these fairs give them more confidence to talk with recruiters and start leaving lasting impressions.
“When you’re a business that offers internships, it’s giving these young people, these students, an opportunity to get a taste of what it’s like to work in this industry that they’ve chosen,” said Jeff Tenner, co-founder of Soca Clothing. “Sometimes people do it and go, ‘Oh my gosh, I’ve made a horrible mistake, I want to go do something else,’ or they really realize that they love it.”
Tenner said offering internships is the best thing a company can do for young adults seeking to get into their respective career fields.
“Far too often I interview people looking for a job, but they realize that’s not what they want to do,” Tenner said. “Now they’re just trying to find a job in something else because they got a degree in something that they’re not interested in, but they never worked a job in that field until they graduated.”
Students who attended the fair said that they are grateful to have this opportunity to get connected with future employers and be able to get their names out.
“Life is getting real. I need to kind of get it figured out. I’ve been working on this degree for three years now,” Matalie Wallin, a junior majoring in apparel and textiles, said. “I’m so thankful as a fashion student, that it’s kind of a cutthroat industry, and having this little career fair is so nice. It makes it a little less intimidating, and everyone’s just a lot nicer.”
