By Olivia Turner | Arts & Life Editor
I wish I could say I look forward to the Career Fair each semester.
With all the promotion Baylor does for the event, the preparation of updating and perfecting resumes and the careful selection of a professional outfit the night before, I would hope the event would be worth my time. But each year my hopes are dashed by the lack of options for journalism majors.
This semester’s Career Day, which was held at the Hurd Welcome Center, had abundant employer options for students in business and finance. On the other hand, there were only five companies that had availability for media or journalism students, and one of the employers didn’t even show up for the event.
While I understand that business majors make up a sizeable chunk of Baylor’s enrollment, this doesn’t mean that their success is any more important than other majors. Perhaps it may be that there are simply more business jobs, but I refuse to believe that there were only five nearby employers in the industry who were willing to show up on Oct. 2.
And that’s only considering the lack of options for journalism majors. Even some of my friends in STEM majors said they felt there was a lack of employers to choose from. For a university that consistently brags about its R1 research status, you’d figure they’d have more options.
Something else Baylor takes pride in is the placement rate of students who find jobs fresh out of graduation. As of now, that rate is at 85% with an overall success rate of 87.8%. I fear these rates may drop if Baylor doesn’t better assist students in finding jobs through events like Career Day.
Baylor should provide an abundance of employers to reflect the many fields of study our university represents. That way, Baylor can say they’ve done their part in setting up job applications and networking opportunities. It seems ironic to provide such a wonderful and nurturing education to someone and then leave them to fend for themselves post-grad.
I’m not the first one to speak up about this. Four years ago and possibly even farther back in time, students have been making similar complaints about the lack of options at Career Day. Baylor, when is a change going to be made? Your students’ success depends on it.
