Mason Hausermann speaks with Indigenous career advisor Sandy Pipko. (Amir Said)
Fifth-year student Mason Hausermann has been eagerly anticipating the Spring Career Fair at the University of Regina.
“I believe the idea of networking, meeting people, shaking hands instead of just applying online, it’s all very helpful,” said Hausermann, who is one year away from graduating with a history degree.
The fair brought 86 employers and exhibitors from across the Prairies. Held Monday on-campus, it was attended by hundreds of students and prospective employees.
These employers expressed interest in a wide variety of students, reflecting the academic diversity of the U of R’s student body. As a student majoring in History, Hausermann believes that the diversity provided by his program translated well in his conversations with employers at the event. “It certainly warranted interest from lots of folks,” said Hausermann.
Many of the organizations at the event were seeking engineering and applied sciences students in particular. Naruto Sharma, a student in his sixth year of an industrial systems engineering degree, found this aspect of the event helpful.
“I’m almost done my degree here so it’s good to meet so many people in my field and express my interest,” said Sharma.
One organization, Rockford Engineering Works Ltd., was at the event for the first time this year.
“We’re moving into a new facility in the fall and opening up space for more staff and more fun,” said Rockford’s human resources manager Karin Sundqvist.
“We’re looking for engineering students and people interested in automation. We’re all about personal and career growth at Rockford. The culture is just great in general, and we think this is a great workplace and lots of fun.
Indigenous representation was a prominent element of the event this year, with numerous organizations on-site.
One is the Gabriel Dumont Institute of Native Studies and Applied Research, which was there to promote academic and professional opportunities alongside development of the Métis culture.
As a Métis person, Hausermann felt the event demonstrated “it was very comforting and a good sense of community around the Indigenous community here.”
Kevin Feisel, manager of career education at the U of R and one of the career fair’s organizers over the past 20 years, is enthusiastic about this year’s event.
“It’s just a great way for students to meet employers,” said Feisel. “I think that the COVID pandemic has taught us one thing: that there’s no comparing applying online and actually meeting someone in-person and talking to them.”
“So, the career fair we had in September right after COVID was the highest attended one we’ve ever had, which shows that people need to interact with employers. It just shows that there’s no substitute for human contact.”
Outside of networking with employers, the event provided other attractions for students. The University of Regina Alumni Association was on-site providing free headshots to students to boost their LinkedIn profiles and professional portfolios.
