On March 5th, the Community College of RI hosted a career fair for their students. I attended to speak with students about career opportunities in the state, and promote our website. The event was well run and organized, held in the cafeteria during mid-day. This allowed for good traffic, maybe 125 to 175 students came through, along with a small number of non-student job seekers. CCRI did a good job of preparing their students, and promoting the event, so the job fair was fairly beneficial to the companies involved.
Unfortunately, several employers came for the sole purpose of finding soon to be nursing grads, and none were seen at the fair. There was a rumor that the nursing students were testing that day. However, a number of CNA students were available to speak with. The community college fairs are always interesting for me because of the diverse body of students you meet.
My favorite story of the day: I met a lady in her late 30's or early 40's who recently graduated and was looking for work. She had gone back to school to get an Associates in Computer Science, and was now embarking on her new future. In my experience, people who complete their schooling later in life tend to be much more enthusiastic and focused on applying their education to their career. This woman was very excited to seek out internships, as she could afford to work for little or no pay for a little while. In speaking with her, I urged her to stay focused on internship opportunities.
Students offer undervalue the resource that an internship provides. For many, it's a way to get a foot in the door and then have access to a wide variety of projects and work duties. In many companies, everyone wants some help from "the intern" so that student ends up with more multi-departmental and cross-functional experience than the full time employees! What a great start to a career, and a great way to explore what direction is best.
Well, that's all for now. See you soon on the recruiting front lines!!!!
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