Students wandering around in the Wellness Center wearing business attire, itching to dispense their resumes, during last month’s Career Expo may not have known that the Toppel Career Center charged attending businesses a $500 registration fee.
Toppel, ranked No. 18 in Career/Job Placement Services by the Princeton Review, offers services ranging from mock interview coaching to resume writing.
Although all services are free for students, some did not know about the charge for career fairs, but still found it justifiable.
“With everything that I’ve done on campus, I know some things tend to be very expensive,” said Jonathan Meizoso, a senior studying microbiology/immunology.
Though some students were unaware of the charge, registration fees are common among other Florida universities.
Florida International University charges students a one-time, $20 fee for Specialized Career Success Services, which helps students with resume writing, internships and full-time career employment counseling.
FIU also charges alumni a $75 lifetime fee, while UM provides services free of charge for alumni.
At the University of Florida, a business must pay $600 for one day of tabling and $1,200 for two.
Natalie de Rojas, assistant director of recruiting services at UM, said all Toppel services , with exception of career fairs, are free for employers and are the only expenses businesses have to pay directly to Toppel.
Christian Garcia, associate director of employer relations, said the registration fee allows employers to bring four representatives to the job fair. The money also pays for a printed profile, an online profile, breakfast and lunch, parking, renting the Wellness Center, renting tables and chairs, paying UNICCO workers, shuttles and printing the profile books.
“Any leftover money is used to supplement the cost of supporting the smaller fairs and CaneZone,” Garcia said.
Though the Toppel may provide multiple free services, some students believe improvement is still needed in representing all of the majors at the Career Expo and on CaneZone.
“Toppel’s primary focus seems to be corporations,” sai Mai Tran, a freshman studying neuroscience. “It feels like it ignores biology students.”
Molly Jones, a senior studying broadcasting and theater, attended this year’s Career Expo and said she was impressed by the “number of different companies that the university brought in.”
Still, Jones, who is vice president of Student Government, noticed other problems with the fair.
“I felt as though the career fair was more directed toward juniors, seniors, and grad students,” Jones said. “Freshmen and sophomores do not necessarily have a resume yet, nor do they know the direction in which they would like to take their degree.”
I’shawnna Henderson may be contacted at i.henderson@umiami.edu.
Services provided by Toppel
Career Planning: A FourZone plan that help guide students from their first year to graduation on career planning
Graduate School: Research information on schools and help with the applications and admission exams
Services & Resources: Some of the sources include resume critiquing, mock interviews, career advising, information sessions, and career fairs
Jobs & Internships: CaneZone, a search engine for jobs and internships
More information about Toppel may be found at www.miami.edu/toppel
Compiled by I’shawnna Henderson.