Adelphi Job and Internship Expo Offers Students Window to the Working World

For Adelphi students about to enter the real world, and for those with a couple of years of college still ahead, one of the best places to find an opportunity that jump-starts a career is the annual Job and Internship Expo, held in the Ruth S. Harley University Center.

The three-hour event, which will be held this year on Friday, April 27, is a chance for students to meet with any of 90 companies and organizations based on Long Island and in New York City. The event attracts more than 500 students, many of whom come wearing their best business attire, résumés in hand.

Companies—from accounting firms and international corporations to technology companies and health providers—are sending their representatives, all eager to mine the deep well of talent at Adelphi.

“We really have something for students in every major,” said Thomas Ward Jr., executive director of the Center for Career and Professional Development at Adelphi. “It’s a busy, happening three hours.”

It’s an afternoon that’s 12 months in the making. “We work with our employer-partners year-round to ensure that students gain access to a wide range of job opportunities and internships,” said Karen Autry ’05, M.A. ’17, associate director of employer relations. “This event is the largest job recruitment program the campus runs, and hundreds of students are offered positions as a result.”

And the expo offers more than full-time jobs and internships. Students can also find temporary, part-time or summer employment at local businesses and summer camps there.

Ward noted that students have many opportunities before the expo to improve their résumé and hone their interview skills. In addition to online tools and one-on-one counseling, the Center for Career and Professional Development offers a one-credit seminar that includes a mock interview that’s video recorded to help provide feedback. The center also helps line up internships throughout the academic year.

Students, Ward said, should begin thinking about ways to prepare for a career as soon as they enter school. Adelphi offers many opportunities to gain experience and build skills that employers value, everything from joining a student club to volunteering to lead a campus activity.

“Our job is to get students to think about their professional careers, and to do all they can to prepare for it while they’re here,” he said.

The expo’s main sponsor is GEICO, which has been hiring Adelphi students for more than 15 years, said GEICO College Recruiter Jeannie Toscano. The company employs 3,000 associates in its Woodbury, Long Island, office and recruits for a management program that can have successful trainees supervising staff in less than three years, she said.

“We’ve had a lot of success hiring from Adelphi. That’s why we keep coming back,” she explained.

Her advice to students looking for work? Practice for any interview, learn a lot about the company, come with intelligent questions to ask and, above all, be confident.

“Take advantage of career services,” she said. “I don’t think students realize how well their classes and experience at Adelphi relate and help them transition into the business world.”