Campus to host Green Jobs Career Fair and Networking Event for students
By Sophie Rane
April 5, 2010 9:55 p.m.
Building upon the foundation laid last year, the second annual Green Jobs Career Fair and Networking Event will be held on campus today.
This year’s event will allow students to network with representatives from around 20 environmentally minded companies, including Tom’s Shoes and the Sierra Club, according to Cory Johnson and Maurice Diesendruck, co-leaders of the event’s organizing team.
The event is different from other career fairs because the companies represented draw from a wide variety of industries with focuses ranging from social action to technological advancement, Johnson said.
Industries represented at the event will include solar engineering and renewable energy firms, automotive developers and non-profits, among others, Johnson added.
“It’s a different kind of career fair because we have such a wide variety of jobs,” he said.
Representatives from companies participating in the event said they looked forward to meeting potential employees at the fair.
“We have hired from UCLA in the past, and it is good for us to maintain relationships with students there,” said Mike Flynn, co-founder of an organization called Opportunity Green, which will be sending representatives to the job fair.
Opportunity Green holds an annual conference to facilitate connections between leading companies seeking to develop sustainable business models, Flynn said.
He said it is important for students to take advantage of part-time work opportunities and internships such as those represented at the fair while they are still in college in order to prepare for post-graduate job searching.
“Learning to work within a company, work with deadlines, and develop responsibility ““ that’s the most important,” Flynn said.
He also urged students to stay up-to-date with social media trends and other technological skills in order to remain competitive in the green career market.
Opportunity Green tends to hire employees who have previously completed internships with the organization, and students should start thinking about internships early, Flynn added.
“Developing that relationship early makes it easier. Don’t wait until senior year,” he said.
The organizing team for the green career fair is comprised of 12 members from environmentally focused student groups like Forum for Energy Economics and Development and E3 ““ Ecology, Economy, Equity, Diesendruck said.
The biggest change made by the organizing team in the planning of the event was to place a greater focus on marketing and outreach in order to increase student turnout, he said.
“The employers last year said (the fair) was great and they wanted us to do it again … but they wanted more students to come to the event,” Diesendruck said.
Diesendruck and Johnson said they are aiming to see more than 500 students attend the event.
Event organizers also hope the turnout might be useful to campus resources such as the UCLA Career Center by illustrating the growing student interest in green fields, Diesendruck said.
“This event will probably be a well-tailored proxy for how interest in green jobs is increasing,” he said.
