By Giselle Palomera
LA Youth at Work partnered up with the Los Angeles College Promise Works to provide students with paid summer internships in the entertainment industry, last Thursday at the Hire a Husky career and job fair.
East Los Angeles College has partnered up with the Evolve Entertainment Fund through the Career and Workforce Development Center to provide students with paid summer internships in the film, music and TV industries.
Pre-registration was required for students whose goal is to get paid for their work through an internship in the entertainment industry. Students were interviewed on-sight for internships with major companies like Spotify, DreamWorks Animation and Univision Los Angeles, among others.
The on-site interviews gave students an opportunity to experience an interview in that type of environment. On February 12, Mayor Eric Garcetti joined actors Ava DuVernay and Dan Lin to launch the Evolve Entertainment Fund. The purpose of this fund is to provide opportunities for students of communities who have been historically excluded from the entertainment industry.
According to the mayor’s website, “The EEF has already secured 150 paid summer internships for students participating in the HIRE LA’s Youth program — partnering with leading entertainment and digital media organizations that include DreamWorks Animation, Ryan Murphy Television, Film Independent, Creative Artists Agency, Kobe Bryant’s Granity Studios, and Anonymous Content. That number is expected to grow to 250 by the end of 2018, with a goal of 500 placements by 2020.”
Students who missed their opportunity for an on-the-spot interview, can still go to LAYouthAtWork.com to find more information on what positions are still available.
There are some requirements for applicants. For example, students must be between 18 and 24, be willing to commit to a full-time schedule, and be enrolled in a community college or Cal State university.
The Hire a Husky job fair featured many agencies who are looking to hire students of all types of experience and education levels. Some employers are only requiring a high school diploma and a big smile to qualify for entry-level positions. Employers like Waterworks Swim School only require an open schedule to enjoy being around young children and to be at least a self-taught swimmer.
The Career and Workforce Development Department had many resources available, including a resource guide. The Career and Job Resource Guide aids students in their quest for a job or career. The resource guide includes template resumes of various careers to tailor to the exact skills and qualifications needed to be considered for a position. It also includes different resources towards finding internships geared towards specific careers.
“If you want to have a resume for the job fair, you kind of want to have different types, because you don’t know what employer is going to be there. You can only control what you are looking for, so always suggest creating different resumes to bring to the job fair, and maybe have a general resume to hand out to employers in specific industries,” said Janet Huang, Director at the Career and Workforce Development Center.
The next Hire A Husky Job Fair will be held tomorrow at the South Gate campus parking lot from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. For more information email ELAC_CAREER@ELAC.EDU or call 323-415-4126.