Every year, seniors at Indiana University and other colleges face a daunting question: “What am I going to do after graduation?” This question often consumes their final undergraduate year, yet IU does it’s best to help out.
Companies of all types visit the university each year to help match seniors with long-term jobs, often before the end of the year. Typically the help comes in the form of a job fair, where students focus on bringing their resumes, presenting their elevator pitches and networking with potential employers. These events are often hosted by individual colleges, like Kelley School of Business, or by the Walter Center For Career Development.
Billy Sudiarto is an IU senior who attended the School of Public and Environmental Affairs job fair on September 26. “With the career fairs going on there (are so many) opportunities that come to campus.”
There are a variety of job fairs interspersed among the school and specializations at IU.
“The fact that we are on a campus that has so many different majors, different schools that provide those opportunities for students to attend (is wonderful),” Sudiarto said. “I personally just attend every single career fair I can.”
However, landing that first job out of college can be a challenge for students in certain majors. When it comes to the performing arts, students say it’s much more difficult. For students in the Jacobs School of Music ballet department, it’s all about snagging the audition to land them the job.
Kaylee Grippando, an IU junior studying ballet, says she and her fellow students spend their first semester preparing performance reels and resumes for the limited job selection.
“You look to see who’s even hiring. Not all companies hire every single year,” Grippando said. “Now there is so much less funding than there used to be, say, twenty years ago.”
Despite attending the number one-ranked ballet program in the nation, Grippando says there is less funding for the arts nationally, which means fewer jobs for graduates in the area. “Because I chose the major that I did, I am going to have such a harder time trying to find a job,” she says.
Whether it’s a regular 9 to 5 job with a top-notch business or a lead role in the Nutcracker Suite, the goal is employment.
“I think one thing that we have in common is to sell yourself,” Billy Sudiarto said.
Sudiarto is actively looking for a long-term job in the Human Resources field while Grippando will spend her final days of the semester traveling across the country auditioning for ballet companies.
For more information about career development or job search assistance, visit your departments’ advising center or the Walter Center For Career Development’s website.