Discouraged students met eager recruiters at the University of Alberta yesterday during a career fair for arts students.
The faculty-specific career forums were introduced this year to meet the demands of unemployed graduates and current students.
“Certainly, the economic situation that we are in has changed over the past couple of years,” said Amber Nicholson, a career adviser at the faculty of arts. “That is why this event is really timely in this economy.”
Over 30 organizations were represented at the event, that saw students bustle in and out between their classes. The recruiters came from both the public and private sector and represented organizations not typically associated with the liberal arts.
“Generally speaking, arts students are more well rounded in their educational background,” said Daryl Lehne, a human resources official for the Canadian Security Intelligence Service
“Their areas of study fit in nicely with what our organization does.”
Many alumni returned to the university, to vent frustration over their current job prospects.
“It just seems to me that everyone that is getting hired nowadays is overqualified, which is frustrating because they are just going to move on to something else once the recession is over,” said Brendan Cox, a graduate of the English department.
“Then the company is going to wishing that they actually hired someone who will want to stick around.”
