Saddleback’s largest career event of the year, the job and internship fair

One of Saddleback’s past job and internship fairs. Photo courtesy of Saddleback College

Wednesday, April 10 Saddleback College is held its career event of the semester, the job and internship fair.

“We do this once a year and it’s usually pretty engaging,” said Eric Hilden, Saddleback’s career placement officer.

Local employers looking to hire or gain interns set up in the quad to chat with students. Hilden said this year there will be over seventy employers present and in past years there have  been cases where interested students were even able to get interviewed for the job right then and there.

This year, Hilden said, there will be over seventy employers present. 

“A lot of the government agencies of course want to come [and] a lot of in-home support agencies, kind of social services, often come; but really what I see this year is a lot more of our manufacturing partners, a lot more of engineering partners” he said.

Employers from over 20 different fields will be present, and a raffle was held as well.

“Our goal with the job and internship fair is to help students get access to local employers who want to hire saddleback talent,” said Rita Soltanian, director of the career resource center.

Both Hilden and Soltanian explained that even if a student is looking for a specific job or internship that will likely not be represented at the fair, it’s still beneficial to go.

Rita highlights the fact that the fair offers students an opportunity to make connections with professionals. Often you might meet someone who knows someone who’s looking to hire in the field you’re interested in.

Hilden said that statistics show positive results of past fairs, and vendors have said that Saddleback is one of their top schools out of the schools they visit. Hilden said that mainly the job fair just needs more student participation for its success to elevate to an even higher level.

Though the fair is the main career event at Saddleback there is an abundance of different workshops and other resources throughout the semester. This week alone the career resource center, located in the new gateway building, is hosting six workshops as well as the fair. All events are listed in student weekly emails and on Saddleback’s website.

Rita also highly recommends students get on “Handshake” a platform Saddleback’s website describes as “Saddleback College’s new campus-wide career management platform offering students a central place to find on and of campus jobs, career events, connections + more”

 Though students are encouraged to register on Handshake (and bring their resumes), anyone is welcome to pop by the fair.

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