Last Wednesday, students put on their best business attire and smiling faces to chat with representatives from 28 different companies and organizations. What for? UW-Madison’s first ever Advertising and Communications Career Fair!
The event was organized by the Association for Women in Communications (AWC) and the Advertising Club, in collaboration with the Comm Arts Student Association, Public Relations Student Society of America, the J-School Department and the Communication Arts department. “From a personal standpoint, it was a lot of fun collaborating with other student organizations,” AWC president Kelsey Ryan stated about planning the career fair.
AWC exec board members, including Kelsey Ryan, middle
Along with Kelsey and the lovely ladies of AWC, enthusiastic members of the Advertising Club sat at tables near the entrance to greet and reassure fair-goers. There were long lines of students anxiously waiting to introduce themselves to the professionals they aspire to be like while professors from the School of Journalism and Mass Communication mingled about. Featuring representatives from advertising agencies and public relations firms, newspapers, TV and radio broadcasting stations, and even event planning businesses, whether students were looking for a summer internship or a post-grad career, the fair allowed them to learn more about prominent companies and possible careers in these exciting fields.
The best advice I received during my visit to the career fair was to keep networking with colleagues and peers and to find a way to make every experience I’ve had relate back to the skills needed for my field of interest. Experience really is key – and talking to people who’ve successfully been hired to do what I want to do was a great opportunity to practice interacting with people who could potentially hire me!
For the first ever Advertising and Communications Career Fair, the event was a huge success – according to Ryan, “there was a total of about 325 students who came, which was far past what we expected.” Furthermore, feedback from event attendees is already being taken into consideration for future advertising and communications career fairs.
“All in all, it was awesome. I think everyone else thought it was awesome. And I think it will get even more awesome in years to come,” Ryan stated.
And to that, I definitely agree.
Photo Credit:
UW Advertising Club Twitter (@MadAdClub)