Success Story: WANTED Job Board

On November 23, 2016, this year’s WANTED job fair took place at the Peter-Dierich-Building on the Zittau campus. The fair was opened by Rector Professor Friedrich Albrecht and Mayor Thomas Zenker. Both emphasized the close ties between the city of Zittau and our University, as well as the importance of the fair for the entire region.

Visitors were greeted by a total of 27 companies and organizations, which offered exciting opportunities for internships, thesis topics, or first jobs. Some of them were participating for the first time and had already indicated to the Career Services organizers that they would like to return next year—for example, Birkenstock GmbH & Co. KG Services and Plan B – Consulting Engineers GmbH.

There was a highlight to experience at the XIMA Media GmbH booth. The company had brought a bicycle with them, and visitors could pedal their way to a bicycle bell by answering a few subject-specific questions. And visitors immediately had the chance to work off the calories from the free hot dogs they could pick up using a coupon in the exhibitor directory. That way, they could kill two birds with one stone.

Success stories were also shared—for example, Kreisel GmbH & Co. KG found a new employee at WANTED in 2014, who was present at the booth this year and was recruiting new employees himself. Many other company representatives also studied at our University and look forward every year to visiting their former place of study during the fair. Such success stories speak for themselves and show that a visit to the fair can be equally rewarding for companies and students alike. The fair is, of course, already firmly scheduled in the 2017–2018 academic year schedule—it will take place on November 29, 2017.

In addition to the exhibitors’ presentations, visitors were once again treated to a diverse supporting program. This included, for example, the free photo op, which has been generously sponsored for several years now by AOK PLUS—The Health Insurance Fund for Saxony and Thuringia. A resume review session, as well as workshops on job application training and assessment centers, rounded out the program and made the fair an all-around successful event.