ASFA to host annual internship fair

”Engineers without borders” was one of the organizations present at the fair. Photo courtesy of ASFA.

The student association’s sustainability committee invited local companies to the event

The Arts and Science Federation of Associations (ASFA) sustainability committee hosted their first local internship fair on Feb. 16 and are already looking into making it an annual tradition.

“I wanted a fair that mutually benefited students and local companies,” said Agunik Mamikonyan, ASFA’s vice-president of external affairs and sustainability. “These companies will benefit from the extra help that they can get from students who themselves need internships.”

The fair, which took place in the EV atrium from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m., hosted multiple local companies and organizations such as Engineers Without Borders, Campus Potager and ForUsGirls, among others. Some Concordia community organizations were also invited to come showcase their companies, including CUTV and Concordia Food. “At least a couple hundred students actually stopped and had conversations about the organizations and the internships opportunities that they offer,” said Morgan Crockett, who is part of the sustainability committee. The committee is responsible for organizing events revolving around environmental, social and economic issues.

“People think that when an organization is local, there will be no internships offered and only volunteering, but there can be some really interesting internships,” Crockett said.

Mamikonyan said she wanted to organize the fair, because she realized students often look for work or internships in different cities or with different organizations outside of Montreal. “This fair is a way to show students that, instead of having to go work for a huge corporation or just having to move for the summer to work, they can actually help their community by staying in Montreal and working for the local companies,” said Mamikonyan.

Of the 10 companies present at the fair, Mamikonyan said each takes one or two interns for the summer, depending on their needs. “Unfortunately, some companies and organizations didn’t answer the invitation, which is why next year we will start planning earlier,” she said.

With this being a new initiative for ASFA’s sustainability committee, Mamikonyan said every year they will have to improve it. “It’s one of those events that would work well on a yearly basis,” she said. “I would let the organizations know about it months ahead so they can have the staff ready to come represent the companies.” She said this would also help ensure students can apply for these internships in time. Due to late scheduling, most of the companies’ internship deadlines had already passed by the time ASFA’s internship fair was held. “I hope to improve the timeline by next year, since many of these places already had their interns chosen,” said Mamikonyan.

She believes that the fair should have the same impact as Quadfest, which is a social celebration that happens every fall semester at the Loyola campus. “I think if we have Quadfest, we could have something more sustainably-oriented,” Mamikonyan said. “We are going into a future that is really defining sustainable development, which is why we should support the development of the community.”

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