CoMC students find opportunities at career fair

Students of the College of Media and Communication put on their best dress, talked to over a dozen people and distributed their resume in looks for an internship or career.

The CoMC hosted the Internship and Career Fair on Thursday, Nov.1, from noon to 4 p.m. in the Student Union Building Ballroom to give students a chance to network and take steps in finding a job.

With employers traveling from across Texas and even out-of-state, Corey Clem, the CoMC career coordinator, said it truly shows how dedicated the companies are to hiring Tech students.

“This is a great opportunity to bring employers to our students,” she said. “It’s really even more of a networking event – that way they can get to know people who may connect them to jobs in the future.”

Clem said students attending junior year and senior year is a necessity to assist with getting an internship or job. However, she said students should be going each year they are in college to experience it and become a recognizable face to the employers.

“If they wait until they’re a senior and need a job to attend, it’s overwhelming and nerve-racking,” she said. “Even if you just come to walk around and check it out your first year, there will be no nerves when you actually need to come back for an internship.”

Joshua Barraza, a freshman creative media industries major from Comfort, was offered extra credit from one of his classes to attend the fair. Barraza said he is glad his class mentioned it because he learned about different businesses and has experience talking with potential employers.

“It was good to get my name out there and think about the future,” he said.

From looking around to the different companies, Barraza said he talked with over five booths because they really caught his eye in his interests of audio, photography and videography.

Nydia Natividad, a senior journalism major from Pecos, said she is starting to get scared for her future after college and thought the fair would allow to get her to start speaking with businesses.

“You might not get your dream job here, but you get your foot in the door definitely somewhere that can get you started,” she said.

Leonard Williams, an executive director of talent and development at Chick Fil A, said they have attended the career fair for over four years.

“We’ve had a good relationship with the College of Media and Communication, and we really come away with what we consider top talent,” he said.

As a chain, Williams said they try to look for students that will be interested in working at the restaurant. Specific to the college, Chick Fil A offers a marketing and communications internship. Williams said students are required to work 15 hours as a team member in the restaurant, then get opportunities to assist the marketing team directly.

“Typically when we hire interns, we convince them to stay a little longer because they love the culture and what Chick-Fil-A has to offer,” he said.

Erik Mahal, an account strategist at Griffinwink Advertising, said emails after make a huge impact because it shows the student is passionate and excited to work for the company. With encouraging everybody to apply and email them afterwards, Mahal said it is a test to see who follows through.

As a full-service advertising agency headquartered in Lubbock, he said they have a deep relationship with the university. Mahal and his associate were interns at Griffinwink while they were students and were both offered a job afterwards.

“We just know the quality of students that come from this college,” he said. “We also want to give back and give students the opportunities that we had to work at a place that we love.”

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