The College of Arts and Sciences’ Center for Career Success is set to host the first-ever “Arts, Creative and Design Career Fair” in the Ohio Union’s Great Hall Friday. Credit: Lantern File Photo
Business casual attire and polished resumes will be key components of Ohio State’s first-ever arts- and design-centered career fair.
Sponsored by the College of Arts and Sciences’ Career Success program, the “Arts, Creative and Design Career Fair” will take place 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Friday at the Ohio Union’s Great Hall, with organizations like EssenceCartoon, City Year, Dance Joy Studios and the Wexner Center for the Arts slated to attend.
The event is specifically tailored to students in creative fields — like the visual, written and performing arts, arts management, moving image production, theater, visual communications, art history and more — according to its Handshake registry.
Though ASC Career Success has sponsored several career fairs in years past, Andrew Freeman, manager for “Arts, Creative and Design Career Fair,” said Friday will mark the first time the program has helped coordinate an arts-focused career fair.
“It’ll be a standard career fair table fair where students will check in, and then they’ll go into the Great Hall,” Freeman said. “There’ll be employers at tables, and they can walk around, and talk to them, and collect information and network.”
Freeman, assistant director of industry connections for the Center for Career and Professional Success, said this event is something he felt was “needed” at Ohio State.
“We’ll actually have a little bit of everything since [the] arts cover so much: visual, written, performing, music, etc.,” Freeman said.
Freeman said it’s crucial that students come to the event prepared, particularly with their complete resumes in hand.
Scott Keyes, senior events coordinator at the College of Arts and Sciences, agreed with Freeman. He said students should plan to arrive early and conversate with as many people as possible.
“Come with a smile on your face and prepare to talk to a lot of different employers,” Keyes said. “Say something to everybody because you never know what composition those particular employers may have of interest.”
Freeman said it is crucial to take advantage of career fair opportunities, even if they may seem nerve-racking at first glance.
“I know it can be really intimidating, walking into a big room full of people you don’t know, but that’s just something you have to do and it gets easier the more you do it,” Freeman said.
Keyes said these fairs help foster valuable connections between students and various employers, which can possibly lead them to future jobs and career paths.
“Get cards, get information, get LinkedIn information and build those relationships with those employers,” Keyes said. “Over the course of time, you never know — something might just become available, and because you kept in contact with that employer, they might just happen to say, ‘Hey, we got this opportunity.’”
Freeman also said attending the fair can assist students in discovering career opportunities in fields they may not be currently pursuing.
“For example, [a student] going into music might think of something else they want to do besides performance or in addition to performing,” Freeman said. “Maybe they want to teach art as well as make art.”
Freeman said most of all, he hopes students learn more about networking and its associated benefits from the career fair.
“Practice career development skills, like working on your resume and networking; interviewing too, because it’s kind of like a mini interview,” Freeman said. “Those are things that our department can help students with too. Use it as a learning opportunity because you’re going to be doing these types of events for the rest of your life.”
Freeman said students can register to attend the career fair online via Handshake or simply show up to the event with a valid BuckID.
More information about the event, including the registration link, can be found on Ohio State’s website.
