I am quite frustrated. I attended the job fair which was held at the University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona, recently and found that there were no job offers for the International Relations major. This is my major and I will be graduating this year – 2009. What should I do?

IT is good that you have started to focus your attention on finding a job and attended the UWI, Mona, job fair as part of

that process.

But attending a job fair provides no guarantee of a job or even an interview. It, however, affords you the opportunity to network. This includes meeting prospective employers from other or related fields, finding out more about their organisations, collecting a variety of information, distributing copies of your résumé and, in some cases, doing on-the-spot interviews.

At the UWI job fair, there were organisations collecting résumés to their electronic database and advising students of career opportunities. It was a good opportunity for job-seekers because at a later date they could be called for an interview to compete for an existing vacancy.

As an international relations major, you may not have seen reference to “International Relations” as an area of need for organisations, but based on your assessment of your varying skills and competencies, you could have found related areas in which you could be utilised – in both the public and private sector.

Some options

The skills and competencies that may prove a plus in these sectors include knowledge of a second language. Have you emphasised this and/or any other of your skills and competencies in your résumé? You may also want to look at related areas such as administrative assistant, as well as personal and executive assistant, where you could utilise numerous planning, time management, report writing, interpersonal and people management skills. This could be in any type of organisation.

Areas of customer service are also relevant and, especially in an organisation where you can use your skills in a foreign language with which you are familiar. The hotel and tourism industry is, therefore, also an option, as well as the Ministry of Finance and Planning, Jamaica Trade and Invest, and any local organisation seeking to interact with entities regionally and internationally.

You also need to look at an area you pursued as an elective as a possible option for employment. An elective, when combined with your major, should also be taken into the analysis of your possibilities. If you pursued human resources management or marketing, for example, then these are also distinct employment options.

If you had analysed your skills and competencies accurately, you could therefore have networked with all the 31 companies represented at the UWI job fair.

Think broadly

As job seekers at a job fair, you must get as much information as possible on the companies participating in the event. Networking with an accounting firm, for example, could reveal that an international relations major or human resources major could find employment with this firm, although accounting is their mainstream business. You must think broadly and be aware of what you could be employed to do within any organisation.

International relations majors should not only focus on possibilities in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and international organisations located in Jamaica. You should look at regional possibilities, for example, at our Caricom secretariat.

At the end of the job fair, you would have made contacts which could help you to circulate your résumé. Since this was not such a successful event for you, you now need to look at what other opportunities exist through the facilities and/or programmes offered by your career centre.

The UWI job fair will be followed by the Annual Graduate Recruitment Programme where companies are invited to do scheduled interviews. You must now make contact with the Placement and Career Services office at the UWI. Ensure that your résumé is a “winner” and that you have worked on your interviewing skills and techniques. In addition, prepare a list of organisations you want to target and begin to circulate it.

A job fair for finalising students at a college or university can be useful only if students know how to properly utilise it.

Merrit Henry is the student services and development manager at the University of the West Indies, Mona. She may be contacted at merrit.henry@uwimona.edu.jm.