Written By: Michela Arlia
As a new school year starts, students look for opportunities to expand their resumes. While job and internship positions are always coming and going, one issue that remains is how students are supposed to apply for positions in a world that is still mostly virtual.
On top of this issue, lies a concern on how students in the arts and media departments can apply for positions, being that their areas of potential work have been one of the hardest hit by the pandemic. On Thursday, Aug. 20, Brooklyn College’s Magner Career Center looked to answer all of these questions and more by hosting a mini job and internship fair geared towards the arts and media.
As part of “Hire BC month,” the Magner Center offered fairs dedicated solely to hiring Brooklyn College students across all platforms and industries. The Media and Arts Fair was just one of the six virtual fairs scheduled throughout the month of August.
Hosted on Zoom, the event brought companies seeking employees from all mediums in the arts and entertainment industry to Brooklyn College students. Among the employers present were representatives from Ogilvy Advertising, TV Boy Production Services, Macmillan Publishers, Brooklyn Roads Magazine, Summatime LLC, and Broadway Artists Alliance of NYC.
“Each employer will have 5-10 minutes to present which will focus on their company culture, hiring needs, as well as what they feel makes a candidate stand out”, said a representative from the Magner Center prior to the event, Following each presentation was a brief Q&A session from the students in the chat room, and the event culminated in employers collecting resumes through a Dropbox link as well as personal outreach.
The types of positions presented at the event ranged across all mediums, including publishing, music, theater and journalism. Representatives from Ogilvy and Broadway Artists Alliance of NYC presented multiple paid internship positions that included rotational programs over the course of nine months as well as arts-based education positions. Other employers from smaller businesses such as Brooklyn Roads Magazine and Summatime LLC presented positions available for content creators in the music industry, including both intern and full-time positions.
Most positions presented by employers were virtual for the semester, reflecting the events of the pandemic closing or temporarily stopping many in person operations.
“The Magner Career Center engaged employers, alumni and students through events tailored towards recruiting our students and making them standout applicants in the job search process!” said Michael Sarrao, the Assistant Director for Career and Employer Engagement and Liaison for the School of Visual, Media and Performing Arts.“The Career Center engaged a total of 74 employers/alumni with over 2,104 registered student/alumni attendees.”
Leading up to the fair, Sarrao and the Magner Center sent out multiple emails to registered guests advising them on how to prepare. Along with researching employers and updating resumes, the emails emphasized open mindedness.
“Please don’t overlook a great opportunity: you may see that the organization is hiring for a particular role that you aren’t interested in, but this is the opportunity to learn more about it…these can be seen as possible stepping stone opportunities,” said Sarrao.
The Media and Arts Job/Internship Fair presented by the Magner Center helped create professional connections for the hundreds of students in participance of the event, and brought many opportunities as a new semester of interning and other forms of work are being pursued.
The Magner Center plans to host more job, internship, and employer events throughout the Fall 2020 semester.