USC Price Office of Career Services Spring 2016 Job Fair (All photos by Lynn Feng) More photos available on Flickr »
By Matthew Kredell
The Spring Job Fair hosted by the USC Price School of Public Policy’s Office of Career Services attracted 100 representatives from 70 organizations — by far the largest turnout in the school’s history.
About 150 students – graduate and undergraduate – attended the April 14 event in the Von KleinSmid Center (VKC) Courtyard on the University Park Campus seeking a summer internship or full-time employment after graduation.
“I think the strong employer interest is a testament to our amazing students and the overall reputation of the Price School,” said Julie Labich, associate director of the USC Price Office of Career Services. “The local hiring market is very good for students coming out of public policy [fields]. All of the participating organizations were required to be actively recruiting and hiring for full-time or internship positions.”
Participants were evenly split among the public, nonprofit and private sectors, with about half of the private companies being from the healthcare field, providing a good mix of options for the varying areas of study at USC Price.
Labich noted that the goal for employers at the fair was 40, a typical number for the annual event. The Office of Career Services also hosts a networking night during fall semesters.
Some of the notable organizations who sent representatives included the City and County of Los Angeles, LA Metro, City of Glendale, Children’s Hospital LA, Keck Medicine of USC, Partners for Better Health, Children’s Institute, Downtown Women’s Center, Heal the Bay, Skid Row Housing Trust and Cerrell Associates.
“It’s a great way for students to make inroads with organizations,” Labich said. “If they do research in advance and show up with thoughtful questions, they’ll definitely stand out. We’ve already seen results with a number of students doing first-round interviews based on connections they made at the job fair.”
One such student was Cassie Gogreve, vice president of the Associated Students of Planning and Development, who is completing a Master of Planning degree this May. She already had an interview with Heritage Housing Partners.
“I was so impressed by the quality of employers that came to the career fair this year,” Gogreve said. “There were numerous organizations that I researched ahead of time and sought out once at the fair. It was great to feel like the employers were recruiting me and my classmates, and that they were excited about and impressed by the talent our program is producing.”