As part of its ongoing efforts to address alumni career needs, the USC Career Planning & Placement Center partnered with the USC Alumni Association and MyWorkster.com to sponsor the first West Coast multi-school alumni career fair on March 18.

More than 500 alumni from USC and 15 other universities attended the one-day event in the Ronald Tutor Campus Center Ballroom, where job-seeking graduates met more than 50 employers selected on the basis of available job openings, industry affiliation and alumni interest.

Participating employers included Northrop Grumman, Slalom Consulting, Experian, Fox Entertainment Group, Kaiser Permanente, Target, the U.S. Department of State and the CIA.

Combining face-to-face and online engagement, the fair presented a new business model for improving alumni access to top employers.

“Alumni are increasingly reaching out to their alma mater for career assistance while employers are looking to cut costs in the recruitment process,” said MyWorkster founder Tarek Pertew. “This event addresses both needs by bringing together a seasoned pool of college graduates with a wide range of top employers.”

During the fair, the center held an open house. Career center staffers led informal tours hourly and explained the professional development services and resources available to USC alumni job seekers of all ages and skill levels.

USC alumni feedback on the career fair was positive.

Richard Sprunger ’99 said that he was impressed by the company representatives’ detailed responses to his questions. He also gave high marks overall to the fair, which he called “well-organized and very satisfying.”

Lori Shreve Blake, USC’s director of alumni and student career services, said: “It was a win-win situation for alumni job seekers and employers recruiting highly talented and skilled alumni from America’s top universities at one premier event.”

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