The STARR Career Development Center’s Career Fair took place on Feb. 7. Students clad in blazers and business attire entered the gym with resumes in hand, in the hopes of getting a job or internship.

This year’s fair hosted 86 employers, including Citigroup Inc., Spectrum and the Catholic Charities Communities Services.

At the start of the fair, hopeful students waited in line outside of the gyms, reviewing their resumes or practicing their elevator pitches.

Upon entering, lines quickly began to form, some even wrapping around the gym — like the one for Deloitte.

First-time attendees saw the event as a beneficial experience. Some said that it was a worthwhile opportunity to learn about new companies, talk with recruiters and try to stand out amongst a large competitive bunch of candidates.

“I think a lot of people make it out to be scarier than it actually is because at the end of the day the recruiters are also people and they are looking for hardworking individuals,” said Frankie Dong, freshman at Baruch College.

Others did not find the fair to be as rewarding of an experience.

“I was very nervous to interview for internships, but actually there wasn’t too useful information for me. Companies just told me to go onto their website and apply for an internship or job,” said Crystal Dong, a senior majoring in business management.

This seemed to be a common grievance. Students waited on line, some for a few minutes and others for much longer, vying for a job or internship, only to find that they had just enough time to shake hands and drop off their resume — especially for popular companies.

With so many qualifying students eager to gain experience and work, employers were also not given enough time to properly assess each candidate.

Some students felt that the list of employers was also not very diverse. The vast majority of companies were “finance or accounting, but not management,” said Dong.

Sally Zheng, a current sophomore, agreed by saying “I feel like I saw more finance and accounting, rather than marketing.”

The list of 86 employers neglected the non-business majors and seemed to focus mostly on accounting, finance and auditing. Though it did include internships for education like with New York Edge, there was an evident lack of internships or opportunities for majors like the natural sciences, law or journalism.

This also led to the few non-business-oriented employers having few students interested and no wait time. This was the case for the CIA table, which very few students visited over the course of the fair.

The lack of representation for all majors resulted in most students coming from the Zicklin School of Business. While these specific business majors had more options, employers saw the general student population as having potential.

The employers choose to come to Baruch because “A lot of Baruch alumni have gone through  the fellowship that we offer and we find that they go on to do great things in this field. They offer a great skill
set and come from a background that we look for,” said Paramjot Kaur, representative of New York State Homes and Community Renewal.

Kaur explained that they do affordable housing and statement banking for the state of New York.

“We find that every Baruch student that comes to interview is impressive. Baruch kids are ambitious and hardworking and they end up going through our pipeline and joining the industry. This is one of the reasons why we recruit here annually,” continued Kaur.

Most attendees felt that attending workshops at the STARR Center was instrumental in preparing them for the fair.

It is also possible to schedule appointments before the career fairs to get personalized tips.

Through editing resumes to learning how to make a personal pitch and interview, the career center provides a means for students to become confident candidates.

At the end of the four-hour fair, it was clear that students left hopeful and smiling at the prospect of new opportunities and a chance to grow professionally.