Celeste Cruz/Vaquero Radio
The UTRGV Career Center hosted Career & Internship Prep Week to provide students with resources and information about opportunities that will help prepare them for the future.
Kamara Jackson, director of the Career Center, spoke about the outcome she expects this event to have on students.
“I’m expecting students to really feel empowered to have successful and meaningful conversations at the career fair,” Jackson said. “I also want to have students confident in their ability to communicate effectively, whether that looks like, having an improved resume, being able to successfully interview and then also feeling confident in their job search. Having the skills sets to know how to research jobs and how to make the connection between what they are passionate about.”
She said the Career & internship Prep Week is preparation for a job fair they will be hosting in a few weeks.
“The purpose of the event prior is to make sure that students are prepared, that they have a safe space to ask questions, [that] they have the ability to research, so that when attending the event, they can present them themselves,” Jackson said.
Jackson mentioned the number of opportunities that are on the Edinburg and Brownsville campuses for internships or full employment.
“For our Edinburg campus, there are approximately 120 employers that will be present,” she said. “In Brownsville, because it’s a smaller footprint, there’s about 60. These are new employers, larger, both local and national. We have historically seen about 50% of the employers coming to recruit students that have internship opportunities and 50% of them are looking for full-time employment.”
Jack Kaufold, internship program manager with the Career Center, said the goal of this program is to help students be successful in their careers.
“My goal is to ensure that students are career ready or at least understand the skills needed in order to successfully apply for opportunities, navigate career fairs and build connections,” Kaufold said.
He recommends students find internships because that will help them with the careers they will pursue.
“My goal is that they can find internships while they’re in school so that can help them with identifying career opportunities or at least exploring industries,” Kaufold said. “But, you know, by the time they graduate, they will have developed a lot of different career competencies that will get them career ready.”
He said there are about 2,000 to 3,000 internships that are available off campus. If students are interested in any on-campus internship opportunities, they visit JobX.
The job fair will take place Oct. 3 and 4 on the Edinburg and Brownsville campuses. For more information, students may visit the Career Center or its website, utrgv.edu/careercenter.
The Career Center is located in Interdisciplinary Academic Building Room 1.105 in Brownsville and in Student Academic Center Room 2.101 on the Edinburg campus. Students can also login to Handshake to schedule an appointment with an adviser.
This is Celeste Cruz for Vaquero Radio.
