For the first time in RPI’s history, the Creative Technologies Career Fair was held by the Career Development Center with cooperation from the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, and the American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA) at Rensselaer. The fair was hosted last Wednesday at the Heffner Alumni House from noon to 4 pm.
The one-day event was held in response to the increasing demand from non-engineering students for a career fair that has a major focus on careers in creative fields.
“We are expecting more than 200 students to come today. Most of these students of whom we’re expecting are from creative disciplines primarily EMAC, PDI, Technology Communication and Management,” said Diana Leis Delker, senior associate director of the CDC.
The fair attracted 23 employers from coast to coast, with attendance from companies such as MTV Networks to RPI’s own distinguished professors, including professor Paul Miyamoto.
The fair not only included the physical presence of the employers’ representatives but also virtual employers. These employers had their own drop-in boxes for the students to submit their resumes.
“We have 15 companies which have their own drop-in boxes. This includes some of our own faculty which makes the fair more interesting,” continued Delker.
The same view was shared by the faculty. “It is exciting to see a career fair which involves our own faculty to participate since only our own faculty know what our students need. I’m hoping more faculty members would participate in the next fair,” said Professor Audrey Bennett.
According to Christina Lee ’03, president of RPI’s chapter of AIGA, the idea of having the fair came in conjunction with the Media Arts Career Festival that was held last year around the same time.
“The students came up to me and told me that they needed something more than just a conference. They wanted something that could help them with job finding too; since the career fair that is usually held is limited for those in non-engineering fields. Besides this activity also gives the students the opportunity to get to know the career world,” said Lee.
As for the employers, the fair is one of the means to get close to the students.
“We’re here not to just collecting resumes. In fact, we don’t intend to. This is our outreach program to those students who want to know the real world of theatrical life,” said Robin MacDuffie of Capital Repertory Theater.
Another recruiter, Jill Doris from Vicarious Visions, believes that the fair is the best for the company to recruit.
“We’ve been to previous career fairs besides campus recruits. This kind of activity sure [helps] us a lot in recruiting new employment,” said Doris.
Students were generally impressed with the fair despite this being its first-year.
“This is a good start for such a fair. I know that this is their first time holding such an activity but I think they are doing well. [I am] just hoping that there’ll be more companies coming next time,” said Dan Chretien ’04.
