Photo by Manas Pant/The Gazelle

On Feb. 4, NYU Abu Dhabi students suited up to attend the Opportunities Fair hosted by the Career Development Center in the East and West Forum of the Campus Center. According to NYUAD CareerNet, over 69 companies and organizations expressed their interest in attending the event, including Citi, Apple, L’Oreal, Ernst & Young and Procter & Gamble.

During previous fairs hosted by the CDC, students expressed frustration that the scope of these fairs is generally limited to industries such as banking or finance. This time, the CDC invited companies such as ING Creatives, Dots & Links and AMIDEAST, to represent the cultural and creative industries, education and nonprofits.

Interested students met with representatives from companies and organizations they were interested in working with.

“There were some representatives who actually work in the departments I was planning to apply to who could talk about their experiences and the projects they worked on,” wrote economics major and senior Yulia Rovnova to The Gazelle.

Some people, however, felt that the opportunities advertised were not fully relevant to students’ preferences.

“The Opportunities Fair did provide me an opportunity to talk to a few IT companies, but most of them were not offering professional internships; just managerial ones,” wrote computer science major and sophomore Shujaat Mirza.

Some students could not find the particular industry they were looking for.

“I would have wanted to see companies from the healthcare industry because I'm interested in the applications of technological innovation in medicine and healthcare,” wrote electrical engineering major and senior Beatrice Ionascu, “But there was not a single one.”

Other students were disappointed by company attitudes toward the fair.

“It is very disappointing how many companies are represented by HR people who think they only need to hand out a brochure with a link to their website,” wrote Rovnova. Many representatives asked students to apply online rather than providing more elaborate information about recruitment.

Some companies failed to attend the fair or cancelled their commitment at the last minute, leaving many tables empty; these included Waha Capital, KPMG, PwC and General Electric.

“It is disappointing that many of the companies didn't show up,” wrote Ionascu. “There were some engineering companies that I would have liked to talk to but their representatives were absent.”