Students Flock to Non-Profit Job Fair

Consulting and investment banking aren’t the only jobs that interest Harvard students.

A job fair advertising opportunities with non-profit organizations, many focused on international development, drew hundreds of students on Friday.

The event—organized by IMPACT, a Harvard group dedicated to raising funds for grassroots projects in developing countries and cosponsored by the Boston Network for International Development—featured representatives from 17 different organizations, including the American Red Cross and the U.S. State Department.

IMPACT co-director, Anna E. Fogel ’07, said that she was excited about the success of the event and praised the Harvard students who organized it.

“The turnout was great,” she said. “We were also excited about the diversity of the attendees—about 50 percent were Harvard students, and the others were from schools around Boston.”

The director of the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy, Sarah B. Sewall ’83, delivered the keynote address, speaking about her path to Capitol Hill. Sewall served as President Bill Clinton’s deputy assistant secretary for peacekeeping and humanitarian assistance, as well as the senior foreign policy adviser to former Senate Majority Leader George J. Mitchell.

Sewall said that her fear of a nuclear war—a fear developed in college that she continued to “nurse”—served as her prime motivation to pursue a career in public policy.

Emi Briggs ’08, who attended the event, praised Sewall’s speech.

“It was nice to hear about development abroad, but also how to find your own niche too,” she said.