For those of you who went to the NIU job fair a couple of weeks ago, I have one question for you:

Since when did it become a stomping ground primarily for business and marketing majors?

I was one of the hundreds of people who prepped my resume and dressed as well as I could (given my limited wardrobe) to attend this excessively talked about and highly publicized event. Actually, I found it pretty disappointing.

Sure, a lot of businesses touted that they were looking for liberal arts majors or people of all majors, but when I approached their stands, they admitted that who they were really looking for were people trained in sales and/or marketing.

What really hit me is that ever since I started here at NIU, I’ve been told the job fair would be worth my time to investigate, and so I’d been planning to do so. It was only the day before that I finally decided I was going to go, and now I can see why I hesitated.

Hundreds of sweaty bodies trapped up in suits and armed to the teeth with resumes, ready to spit them out on command – I mean, I suppose that’s what the job market’s all about – but for God’s sake, you might as well have been your own resume. Who knows how many hundreds of people were sorted through that day, and when found they didn’t meet up with the employer’s standards – discarded.

That’s kind of what I felt like, that because I was an English major, people weren’t willing to take my talents into consideration, and so as soon as they knew my field, they began anxiously looking over my shoulder at that next candidate.

There was only one place that was eager to really talk to me, and that was a newspaper corporation. They were truly interested in looking at my portfolio, and I was truly excited to show it to them, but none of their positions really sounded promising either.

According to NIU’s English department Web site, an English major’s skills can be utilized in a variety of jobs, from “technical or business writer, copy writer or editor, legal assistant or paralegal, library associate, sales or marketing representative (surprise!), publisher’s representative and so on.” And good writing skills are needed everywhere; that’s a well known fact.

So for all you people out there who were as disappointed as I was (and I’m not just talking about you English majors; this goes out to anyone who felt a little gypped), I hope you took advantage of the blank side of your evaluation form and expressed your comments and concerns about the fair. If you felt the way I did – that there wasn’t nearly enough diversity among the employers – then I hope you made mention of it.

If I weren’t graduating this semester and I actually considered attending the fair again, I would like to see opportunities being realistically provided for all majors. For someone like me, whose skills and interests span the board, there really wasn’t much of an opportunity to make the abilities known to employers.

If an English major isn’t what employers really want, then they shouldn’t say they’re looking for them. It’s as simple as that.

Columns reflect the opinion of the author and not necessarily that of the Northern Star staff.