Newswise — Students at the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business can seek out jobs in far flung places – as well as the U.S. – by stepping through the virtual doors of the upcoming MBA International Virtual Career Fair 2011. No traveling needed.
Kirstie Z. Chen, (MBA ‘11) from Shanghai, China, did just that last year with much success, all from her computer. She managed to land a marketing internship in the United States from U.S.-based Hanesbrands Inc. and later got a job offer at its Chinese subsidiary.
“It’s very easy to use,’’ she says of the career fair. “You just submit your resume and wait. I also did a job search to see what positions were there. It was like a pre-screening; I could look without wasting my time. It’s a very good resource.”
International students comprise about 27 percent of Darden’s full-time MBA student body. But even American MBA students can seek out international jobs at the career fair. Executive MBA students and alumni can also take part.
Dozens of multi-national companies seeking top MBA talent will post job openings and search for online resumes of prospective employees. Through the career fair, a company can reach schools it usually doesn’t visit and strengthen its presence where it does.
“We’re trying to meet student and company needs for overseas hiring,’’ says Denise Karaoli, the associate director of International Programs and Opportunities for Darden’s Career Development Center (CDC). “It’s hard for international students to find opportunities back home when they’re here.”
This second annual career fair -- an initiative launched by the CDC – is expected to be as successful as last year’s. “Many international students are excited about having these opportunities,’’ says Karaoli.
Darden is hosting the career fair with five other top U.S. business schools including those at Duke University, the University of Michigan, the University of North Carolina, the University of Texas at Austin and Yale University. The address of the career fair is http://www.mba-exchange.com/OnlineCareerFair.
Registration will begin on March 18. The career fair will open its virtual doors on March 28 and will remain active until April 28. A key event, dubbed “live day,” will be held on April 7, and participating companies can host live meetings and chats and even hold discussion forums with interested students.
We do international cases and we have an international presence,” says Karaoli. “This career fair is part of Darden’s being a global school.”
For more information, contact [email protected] or a member of the Communication team.
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