Last Wednesday, the UTM Career Centre hosted its annual Get Experience Fair and showcased volunteer, employment, and internship opportunities on campus and in the community.
New to the fair this year was the First Year Experience table to help first-year students begin thinking about their future careers and what skills they would need to pursue those careers, before walking around the fair and seeing how to connect those skills to opportunities.
Michelle Atkinson, the Career Centre’s coordinator of events and employment services, emphasized that it is important for all students to make connections between their skills and the experience they need for their future career.
“Everyone needs to start somewhere, and this is a good place to start,” she said about the fair.
Held in the RAWC gym, the fair featured 56 organizations, arranged by categories such as arts and culture, finance, government services, marketing communications, and teaching and education.
A total of 1,061 students participated in this year’s fair, about 70 fewer than last year.
Still, the response was positive. “All of these different opportunities are available all in one place,” commented Mehran Sabbaghi, a first-year life science student. “It would take forever if I wanted to go see what each one was about on my own.”
On-campus employers included the Blackwood Gallery, the University of Toronto Mississauga Students’ Union, the AccessAbility Resource Centre, and the departments of student life and experiential learning. Other organizations included Habitat for Humanity, the Mississauga Youth Advisory Council, the City of Mississauga, Big Brothers and Sisters, and the Odyssey and Explore programs.
