At 2024 Design Career Fair, Connections Abound
Alums Katie Burrell (MArch'06, center) and Sergio Coscia (C'85) of CosciaMoos met with Master of Architecture students.
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Among the many occasions Weitzman alums are invited back to campus, the annual Design Career Fair is notable for bringing together alums of different generations and current students across the School. Part reunion and part networking marathon, this year’s event drew a record 517 attendees to Houston Hall on February 8, followed by a virtual event on February 13. Both were organized by Penn Career Services in partnership with Kali Meeks, Weitzman’s director of professional development & leadership.
The Weitzman School has partnered with Penn Career Services for decades to produce the Fair, which attracts firms in architecture, landscape architecture, and planning, as well as government agencies and nonprofits from as far away as San Francisco, Dallas, and Buffalo. Once held in Meyerson Hall, the event has grown in popularity to the point that it now attracts enough employers and students to fill two event spaces in Houston Hall.
Dianne Hull, senior associate director, Penn Career Services (left) and Kali Meeks, Weitzman’s director of professional development & leadership
The virtual format, first offered in 2021 out of necessity during the pandemic, remains as a key alternative to bring in firms from across the country.
“Prior to COVID, the only way that we could ever envision a Career Fair was in person,” says Dianne Hull, senior associate director with Career Services. But when they brought the Career Fair on site again in 2022, they recognized that there were some benefits of the virtual as well.
Beyond expanding the geographical breadth of opportunities, the virtual format eliminates the space limitations of an in-person event. Hull says that 65 firms attended in person and 27 logged in online. “Those put together would not fit in Houston Hall. We would have had to turn some of those employers away.”
Alum Jorge Couso (MArch’23), an architectural designer at EwingCole, returned to Penn for the Fair.
Whether they’re attending remotely or meeting face-to-face, employers—many of them alums—are drawn to the Fair to get to know students beyond their resumes and portfolios.
“The first thing that I care about is you as a person,” says Jorge Couso (MArch’23), an architectural designer at EwingCole who attended the Fair as a student before returning as an employer.
While experience and talent are important, says Couso, “I’d rather work with someone who’s willing to learn and willing to work hard.” The things you notice in the conversation, he explains, are “their personality, how they carry themselves, how they speak about their work, what they want to do in the firm, why they like the firm–those types of questions are important.”
Alums Krista Reimer (MLA’19, left) and Zoe Cennami (MArch'20) represented WRT at the Fair.
Krista Reimer (MLA’19), a landscape designer with WRT, says that at the Fair, she’s looking for “fit, enthusiasm, and rapport. Flickers of ‘Yes, you are driven by the same thing that drives the office.’” Reimer adds that in making these connections, the question of fit supersedes the resume. She says several times during this year’s event she thought, “I think you’d be a good fit if you are qualified.”
For students, while connections at the Fair can sometimes turn into job offers, organizers encourage them to leverage the opportunity to learn about their chosen industry.
“What's happening at the Career Fair are not interviews,” says Hull. “They're connections. And as a student, you're learning a little bit that might make your resume or portfolio stronger, you might get some talking points that would be useful in a future interview.”
Alums Nicholas Baker (MCP'11, left) and Emily Galfond (MCP'19) joined the Fair from Philadelphia's Department of Streets.
Frances Murray, a Master of City Planning student expected to graduate in May, came to the Fair unsure of what exactly she was looking for. She knew she might not be interested in a traditional planning firm, but was looking for work that brings together design and planning and aligns with her interests in data and community development.
After talking to a few firms, she is aglow with excitement. She says she spoke with some of the traditional planning firms and realized they do a lot more than traditional work.
Dominique M. Hawkins (C’92, MArch’92, MSHP’92, right), of Preservation Design Partnership, greets Master of Science in Historic Preservation students.
“I’ve had a really hard time finding someone using any kind of psych or neuro data to inform planning or design,” she says. She thought it was not something that exists at planning or design firms, but from talking to MOD Worldwide, she realized they have an entire neuroscience branch. “That’s one of their specialties.”
First-year student Bakari Joy Clark (MCP’25) says she has a job for the summer but because she came to the Master of City Planning program right after finishing her undergraduate studies, she considers learning about professional opportunities an important part of her education at Penn.
“Of course, there's private sector and there's public sector,” she says, “but within the private sector, there's just so many different routes that I didn't know were there.”
Clark came to the Fair on Meeks’ recommendation. “If I were to give advice to any other student, it's definitely to go talk to [Kali],” she says. “She is a resource to definitely tap into.”
