OCS Expands Career Forum

The Office of Career Services has deemed Friday’s Career Forum and International Experience Fair a recession-time success, after 125 employers participated in the annual event, a 36-percent increase over the previous recession in 2002, according to OCS assistant director Deborah Carroll.

This year, OCS combined the traditional job fair with the study abroad-focused International Experience Fair, which drew an additional 55 organizations, some of which offered employment opportunities to graduating seniors and graduate students who are poised to enter the job market during the worst economic recession since the 1930s.

The Career Forum typically kicks off a frenetic fall e-recruiting season designed to stream line the job search process by staggering dozens of information sessions, resume drop deadlines, and interview prep sessions within the first few weeks of school.

“It’s a good first step,” said Ingrid G. Akerlind ’10 of the fair. “It’s definitely more personal than e-recruiting.”

The ongoing effort to diversify the fair has been aided in recent years by the absence of major banks like Goldman Sachs, and the now defunct Lehman Brothers.

A sea of bodies, clad in dress-for-success garb navigated the five industry “neighborhoods,” including representatives from “science and tech,” “marketing, media, retail, and entertainment,” and “government, nonprofit, and education.”

OCS Director Robin Mount said she was “thrilled” with the number of employers who registered this year despite the recession.

“Harvard students are smart, great at communicating, and many have quantitative skills,” Mount said. “We just feel like it’s a great time to be Harvard. We heard from a lot of companies that Harvard is their top target school.”

According to Mount, the Fair’s success can also be linked to the presence of new recruiters including Knight Capital Group, Anheuser-Busch, Major League Baseball, and the National Basketball Association.

David W. Kunst ’07, a recruiter for the financial services company Raymond James, said that he noticed more non-traditional public service tables this year than when he attended the fair two years ago as a recruiter.

And Mount said the recession market may also favor underclassmen and graduating seniors who are competing for the more widely-available entry-level jobs, rather than mid-level positions.

The fair generates revenue for OCS, which will use the money to help support fall programming.

—Staff writer Danielle J. Kolin who can be reached at dkolin@fas.harvard.edu.