By Stephanie Starks | Staff Writer
Baylor’s Career Center hosted almost 200 professional organizations for Career Day, the university’s annual networking event, from 1 to 6 p.m. on Wednesday in the Paul and Alejandra Foster Pavilion.
At this year’s event, brand-new graduate health programs, including master’s programs in Bioethics and Health Data Analytics, were featured to undergraduates for the first time.
Julibeth Moore, a senior career success professional, said Career Day is worth attending since attendees get to ask questions, citing students in health and science programs as an example.
“With the addition of health graduate programs, these students can learn what [graduate-specific admissions] are looking for,” Moore said. “They can learn what steps they can take to make them a successful candidate for those programs. [Career Day] is a great place to come and learn.”
The Career Center has an average job placement rate of 92% among recent Baylor graduates, according to the Career Center’s dashboard on success data. Events like Career Day can help students start to understand more about what jobs they might be interested in.
Moore said students in every major and year at Baylor should keep showing up.
“You never know where the connections you’re making today will lead you in the future,” Moore said. “This is an opportunity that students do not want to miss out on.”
Career Center Director Amy Rylander said she wants students to know that college is the only time when hundreds of organizations are in one place to come see them.
“The employers are paying one ticket price to come see all the Baylor talent,” Rylander said.
Rylander, who has worked at the Career Center for 12 years, said she finds it encouraging to hear a student say they “knocked it out of the park with an interview.”
“They are always so surprised that a simple conversation can lead to an internship,” Rylander said. “It is even better when they come back to my office to tell me they got a full-time job,” Rylander said.
Rylander said Career Day prepares almost every student graduating from Baylor with relevant professional experience.
“Whether it is a non-profit, for-profit, government or a firm, Career Day is for students because there is something that Baylor students can offer these companies,” Rylander said.
Career Center Communication Manager Jonathan Echols said he believes that students can achieve their goals at Career Day.
“There are going to be many employers at Career Day,” Echols said. “Events like this help students start thinking about their future careers. This internal ‘light bulb’ moment happens where they discover a career path that they did not even know was a possible career opportunity for them.”
Applying online is a great first step for students to take to show recruiters that they are interested, according to Echols.
“It is a big advantage for students to personally meet these representatives to see if they connect with a person the company has hired,” Echols said.
Grant Collison, a recruiter for Dallas-based healthcare navigation company Lantern, said he came to Career Day to see the future of health science professionals.
“We have had many great students who have graduated from Baylor, and they now work here at Lantern,” Collison said. “We want to build a pipeline connection between Baylor and our company. It helps that we are fairly close by.”
Islamabad, Pakistan, junior Akbar Malik, a data analyst at the Career Center, wants people to come to Career Day because it is a good opportunity for all students.
“There’s employers for pretty much any major,” Malik said. “It is a great networking opportunity, especially with Baylor alumni.”
Houston senior Alexa Hernandez said she came to Career Day to gain more knowledge about the current job market.
“I was really hoping to see more places that I probably would not have thought about before coming to Career Day,” Hernandez said. “I got a better feel for the people that I might work for in the future that I might not had considered originally with my degree.”
