A career fair with an international flair is coming to San Francisco later this month. No ordinary career fair, ICF’09 features companies from around the world with an especially large contingent of French firms and even including the Office for Science and Technology of the French embassy.
In years past, upwards of 1,000 engineering, science, or business management students and professionals have attended the fairs. In 2008 a third of the 1,300 candidates came from the U.S. But almost almost as many came from Asia. Another quarter came from Europe.
And what a smart group. In 2007, 55 percent of the attendees had either a Master’s or a Ph.D.; 28 percent were MBAs.
The job fair is organized by Apec (Association Pour l’Emploi des Cadres), a French agency specializing in the employment of engineers, managers, and executives. The agency has been running internationally-flavored events since 2002 and has a small team in San Francisco that manages the International Career Fair each year.
Among this year’s sponsors include LinkedIn, the provincial government of Alberta, Canada, the European Union, and Bundesagentur Fur Arbeit, Germany’s federal employment agency. At this point, the website lists 20 participating employers. Not surprisingly, the number is about half the 40 participants last year, though more are expected.