All students have a chance in getting an internship that they may need may want to help gain experience after graduation.

“Lots of companies in a broad variety are going to represented,” said Mireya Pourchot, promotion and publicity specialist for the Cooperative Education and Internship office.

There are over 50 companies being represented at the Internship and Co-op fair, being held from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., Oct. 2nd, in the Duke Ellington Ballroom.

“We are getting new companies every day, so students need to keep checking until the day of the fair,” Pourchot said.

In the past years, the fair was only held in the spring and was geared toward people who wanted summer internships.

“Due to popular demand from our employers, we have added the second fair,” Pourchot said.

Employers want to get their recruiting done early. Some companies want placements for the spring and they also want to get their summer recruitment done as well.

“Basically, students go to the internship fair because they want an internship or a Co-op,” Pourchot said.

As a student, there are many benefits of going to the fair.

“I think that going to the fair will help students gain knowledge of what they need to do to prepare for a career,” junior education major Melinda Meyer said.

An internship is basically like a part-time job, but it’s related to your major, Pourchot said.

An internship will also help you to decide if it is a job you may want to do after you graduate, Pourchot pointed out.

“I believe that doing an internship is a good idea, because if you realize that you don’t like that particular field, you have time to change your major,” sophomore psychology major Mary Litgen said.

There are a lot of internships that are paid, others are not.

“[Companies] consider it valuable enough that you’re able to have the experience and learn,” Pourchot said.

Some students believe this to be true.

“I think that the training alone should be good enough,” Meyer said.

“Another great thing about internships and Co-ops is that 60 percent of interns are offered full time positions with the company they are interning with,” Pourchot said. “Interns start with a higher salary than someone with out experience.”

Approximately 1500 to 1700 students come to the fair every year.

“We have one of the biggest intern fairs in the Midwest because they really like our students and we get students out [to the fair],” Pourchot said.