Eastern Illinois University held its Fall Job & Internship Fair, drawing in roughly 160 students compared to last year’s attendance of 200 students. 

However, the decrease in attendance did not go unnoticed by stand members.

The Cook County Sherriff’s Office was attending the event for the first time this year and Deputy Stefana Castillo was at their stand. 

“I thought there’d be a lot more people, but it’s a good flow,” Castillo said. 

The event had more stands this year compared to last year, most of them finding out about the event via Handshake, the software package used to manage and connect with other vendors at the event. 

During an interview with the Director of Career Services Bobbi Kingery, she said more school districts signed up for the event due to there not being a separate job fair for education majors. 

The event also did not support information for every major either, which is something that was on multiple students’ minds at the event. 

Daniel Donovan, a junior digital media technology major, did not find any stands at the event to help him with his major. He thought this was due to “sheer variety.” 

On the other hand, Kaleb Coleman, a senior computer information technology major, did find the Levi, Ray, & Shoup, Inc. stand which had information regarding his major

The information received from the stand was information related to jobs and internships connected to Coleman’s field, but this was the only stand useful to him. 

The lack in variety at job and internship fairs is an issue known to the Career Services office, but according to Kingery it’s “dictated by the industry, not our office.” 

While not every major is represented at the event, she still encourages students to attend early on in their college career to start making connections and learning what to expect from future job and internship fairs.  

Luke Brewer can be reached at 581-2812 or at [email protected].