The San José State Career Center hosted the Late Spring Job & Internship Fair on Tuesday in the Student Union Ballroom.
Sign-ups were open to any student looking for a summer job or internship, as well as potential networking opportunities.
Tables from 41 companies lined the ballroom, each with lines of students eager to talk to the recruiters.
Some of the companies that interested students the most included Amazon, BMO Financial Group and Mercedes-Benz.
Bobbi Makani, the executive director of the Career Center at SJSU, said the fair is a way for students to get employment secured before the upcoming summer break.
“This is actually the last fair (this semester), where most of our employers who have not filled in their summer internships come back to campus to see if they can hire a couple more students,” Makani said.
Some internships can be very competitive, such as Google, with over 125,000 applications coming in annually, according to a March 17 Interview Query article.
Makani said the Career Center holds about 13 to 14 job and internship fairs a year, starting with the on-campus Career Fair in September.
“At every job fair, we typically have between 700 to 800 students come in,” Makani said.
Tuesday’s fair had an estimated 580 students in attendance, according to Makani.
Jerardo Jimenes, a business administration masters student at SJSU, said events such as the fair are good practice.
“For me, it’s been helpful as far as my interview skills and cold approaches, versus sending like 100 resumes online,” Jimenes said.
In-person events are known to help students develop their interview skills and form human connections in a way that is difficult to do online, as a study published in the Journal of Applied Psychology found that people who participate in-person to network have felt more fulfilled in their jobs, according to a March 2023 Legal Management article.
Katrina Smith, a recruiter for Pan-Pacific Mechanical, said she can tell if the student is a good match based on their approach and what questions they ask.
“They have to be hungry,” Smith said. “They have to want the work and be ready for it.”
Pan-Pacific Mechanical is a mechanical design-build subcontractor that works on major construction projects, including hospitals, high-rises, schools and specialized facilities, according to its webpage.
“We’re mainly hiring for positions in our operations department,” Smith said. “So we’re looking for project engineers, assistant project managers, maybe even project managers.”
Pan-Pacific Mechanical is also looking for interns, but each department only hires a small handful, Smith said.
Makani said that there’s a trend of students wanting jobs or internships that are selective.
“I’ll give you an example: working for water utilities, it’s not a sexy job. But they’re the ones who are hiring,” Makani said. “But then here you are with Google who only need four interns and you have like a million people applying to them.”
San José State students have a built-in advantage of being located in Silicon Valley where large tech startups and companies including Netflix are based, according to a Nov. 17, 2025 Built in San Francisco article.
But that proximity doesn’t necessarily translate into opportunity for every student.
“When you talk to employers, they always say there’s a talent shortage and when you talk to students, they always say there’s not enough jobs,” Makani said. “There’s a perception of a shortage from the point of view of the students because there are certain jobs that they want to be in.”
In reality, many of the fastest-growing jobs exist outside of the highly competitive roles in industries such as tech, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The three fastest growing occupations include wind turbine service technicians, solar photovoltaic installers and nurse practitioners, according to the same source.
Jimenes said it’s been harder to find jobs in his field than he was expecting.
“It always comes down to the wage and benefits,” Jimenes said. “So some companies are more strict on what they’re willing to pay for non-experienced adults.”
Jimenes’ experience reflects a broader challenge for graduates who are entering the workforce where entry-level pay doesn’t meet their expectations, as an average starting salary of $102,839 in San José falls to about $57,580 when adjusted for cost of living for new graduates, according to May 16, 2023 article from San José Spotlight.
Smith said it’s not all about the experience a candidate has that will land someone a job.
“I’m looking for someone who knows what they’re looking for and they feel like this is going to be a good fit for them,” Smith said. “Because ultimately, if you’re happy with what you’re doing and where you’re working, you’re gonna be good at what you do.”
Makani gave advice to students interested in exploring job opportunities.
“Don’t be fixated on the company name, just be open to the possibilities of opening career pathways,” Makani said.
