SMG career fair draws 600 looking for job help

About 600 Boston University students eagerly came to sell themselves to 20 top companies at the School of Management's Career Fest Thursday.

SMG students, such as sophomore John Yoo, said the fair offered students the chance to rub elbows with recruiters from around the world.

"It's a good place to network, get to know a lot of people, get your foot in the door," he said.

Hoping to find his place in the work force, graduate student Bryan Fuller said after his July 1 graduation he "would love to work July 5, but that's doubtful." Still, he said he put some effort into getting ready for the fair.

"I pressed my suit, printed out a few résumés," he said as he waited in line to speak with the representative for Deloitte Consulting, a global consulting firm.

To create the best impression for impromptu interviews, students were mostly dressed in casual business attire. Those who were not heard about it, according to SMG sophomore Assad Bokhari.

"I'm wearing jeans," he said. "I got yelled at."

SMG held the fair in the school's entranceway, which SMG Assistant Director of Corporate Recruiting Dan Beaudroy said provided the ideal setting.

"It's nice to be in the middle, because then we're unavoidable," he said.

Amy Dufour, a recruiting assistant in SMG's career center, said the key to a successful career fair is the student turnout.

"We had about 300 students sign up online," she said.

Students crowded in front of companies' display tables, hoping to speak with recruiters and have their résumés read.

After an interview with Ernst & Young, a popular professional service organization, SMG sophomore Christopher Renke said, "It went great."

"They're very nice and very approachable."

Enterprise Rent-A-Car's recruiter Wendy Bourassa said BU students are "very high achievers." Enterprise hired 10 BU students last year and Bourassa said she was confident that their contributions will be of "great quality."

Amanda Korane, a Citigroup recruiter and 2003 SMG graduate, said she found her relationship with the SMG Career Center consistently successful.

"I got really lucky that I found something that was such a perfect fit," she said.

After experiencing the career fair first hand, Korane said she had a lot of insight on the process.

"Don't get disheartened if you've been looking for a job for a long time and you haven't found one," she said. "It's all a matter of circumstance."

Before students are hired, they often submit multiple résumés without much success.

"It's not very easy for me to find an internship right now," SMG junior Ciru Wamyoike said, an international student from Kenya. Wamyoike said she is looking for a job with a global company that would allow her to work closer to home.