2022 Media Mayhem Career Fair A Huge Success

On Saturday, April 2, Berkeley Journalism and its NABJ student chapter co-hosted the third annual Media Mayhem career fair and networking event. Eighty-four recruiters from across the country attended the gathering to scout for interns, full-time hires and students to track for future openings. Participating students included members of Berkeley Journalism’s classes of 2021, ’22, ’23 and undergraduate journalism minors. Recruiter participation grew markedly, with some newsrooms approaching us directly, asking for an invitation.

As in 2021, this year’s Media Mayhem was entirely virtual. Registrants met online for 15-minute chats with recruiters in Zoom breakout rooms. Each organization had its own breakout room in which to meet students. A few opened multiple breakout rooms to accommodate student demand.

“Doing this remotely makes it possible to include employers from all over the country who don’t have to spend scarce resources to travel,” Betsy Rate, director of career development, said.

Berkeley Journalism students represented themselves and the program well. Several recruiters commented on how “inspiring, impressive and ambitious” our students are and “the incredible diversity of backgrounds“ they represent. Several recruiters expressed their desire to develop more meaningful connections with the school. Student anecdotes suggest that many of Saturday’s 620+ conversations resulted in a number of internship opportunities and job offers.

“Attracting recruiters from national outlets like The New York Times, AP, Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post, to NPR stations across the country and top newsrooms in our own backyard is essential for a professional school like Berkeley Journalism,” Rate said. “Their participation is a testament to our students; recruiters recognize how terrifically talented they are.”

Dean Geeta Anand said the event’s success was also a testament to Rate’s creativity and passion. “I could not be more grateful to have someone as brilliant and dedicated as Betsy leading career development here at Berkeley Journalism. We, as a community, could not be more grateful to Betsy and her team.”

The event was produced and directed by Rate, with Chris O’Dea, Tarin Griggs, Blaine Jones and Aysha Pettigrew coordinating the day of the event. NABJ Co-Chair Ande Richards (’22) served as emcee.

Media Mayhem was founded by Bo Tefu and Carla Williams (both ‘20) of the school’s National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) chapter in 2019.