Students lined up on Trousdale to speak to employers and submit their resumes on Wednesday for internships and post-graduate jobs in the Los Angeles area, and employers were just as eager to meet them.
“I always thought it’d just be really exciting to just touch base with students in a more authentic way as they’re passing,” said Lexis Withers, a representative from the United States Golf Association.
The Culture and Community Recruiting Event, organized by the USC Career Center, offers students and employers the chance to meet face-to-face and learn of internship and employment opportunities, particularly from organizations with an emphasis on community engagement.
The companies in attendance ranged from consulting firms and non-profits to government agencies, including Los Angeles County Public Works, Girls Who Invest, Bank of America and Deloitte Consulting. Resumes in hand, students gathered around the more than 20 booths to learn what each company has to offer.
“I’m lining up for Bank of America,” said Robert Ho, a freshman majoring in accounting. “I’m looking at joining a bank or consulting. So I lined up to find out what’s going on.”
Ho said he appreciates how USC offers its students opportunities, such as the career fair, to connect them with employers.
“USC, from my previous research online, when I was applying to colleges, prepares the students,” said Ho. “It’s pretty cool that they provided resources for students to seek jobs outside of USC.”
The Culture and Community Recruiting Event, held twice a year, draws organizations whose core mission is to promote community.
Ariana Martinez, a representative from Learn4Life Schools, a non-profit charter program, said their aim is to support a unique group of students from diverse backgrounds when “education in a traditional setting doesn’t work.”
Other businesses in attendance also emphasized their commitment to advancing culture, community and diversity.
CoachLA, a branch of the city’s Department of Recreation and Parks and partner with Nike, said their goal is to “train different coaches on DEI, any kind of aspects that relate to teaching children that’s not related to the sport, so just inclusivity in general, positivity within that sport and coaching as well,” according to a representative from the program.
Though the types of businesses and non-profits present at today’s recruitment event may differ from one another, they share the same reasons for finding USC students especially appealing.
“[USC students] tend to be pretty well-rounded, [have] good communication skills, a knack for understanding commerce, especially when it comes to sales and being persuasive,” said Massimo Lesti, a recruiter for Gallo, a wine and spirit supplier. He also noted that USC students are “able to undertake higher levels of management as well when those promotion opportunities come along.”
Arpig Dua, a recruiter for Deloitte Consulting and USC alum, said, “I think USC students are very well-rounded. They like to play hard and party hard, which is really great in management consulting as it is a social world.”
The Career Center is set to have another career fair on Thursday, open to all students and hosting employers from various industries.