Alfred University hosts Spring Career Fair

ALFRED, NY—Alfred University hosted its annual Spring Career Fair on Thursday, April 15th. The virtual event was attended by 213 students, who had the opportunity to connect with 28 participating companies.

The Robert R. McComsey Career Development Center organized and hosted Thursday’s event. Utilizing the CDC’s career software, Handshake, 144 students participated in 38 informational sessions with participating companies. In addition, there were 80 one-on-one interactions between students and prospective employers. Participation in the Career Fair can lead students to opportunities including internships, co-ops, summer jobs, and full-time positions.

“Although we are looking forward to hopefully hosting our larger scale career fairs in person next academic year, both students and employers were pleased with the virtual format,” said Jill Crandall, interim director of the Career Development Center. “It’s rewarding to get emails from students throughout the career fair day with the exciting news that they were just offered an internship, or that they have a follow up interview scheduled now from the event.”

One student commented, “I’m really glad that I joined the career fair, and I feel really great about the one-on-one sessions that I had. I have a follow-up Zoom meeting tomorrow with one of the employers.”

“Like our fall fair, I was very happy with the student participation considering we weren’t able to host this event in person,” said Valerie Daciw, Employer Relations coordinator at the Career Development Center. “Our faculty is a large reason that students attend since they make our events a priority in their curriculum. Our students have shown us again and again how adaptable and resilient they are, and I am very proud of them.”

A week prior, the annual Mock Interview Event was held, where companies such as Tesla, Pegula Sports Entertainment, and Dixon Schwabl met with students and offered advice and feedback on their interviewing skills to prepare them for the fair. Thursday’s event marks the third time a career fair has been hosted virtually. Over a year ago, the 2020 Spring Career Fair, which expected more than 60 companies on campus, had to be turned quickly into a virtual event due to the COVID19 pandemic.

Sponsors for Thursday’s Spring Career Fair included Owens-Illinois; Corning, Inc.; Kohler Co.; NSG; PCC Airfoils, and the Collegiate Restaurant.

Companies that participated in the event were: Enterprise Holdings, Monroe 2-Orleans BOCES, Materion, BorgWarner, PCC Airfoils, US Army, AVstar Fuel Systems, Washington Mills, Alliance Advisory Group, Council on Addiction Recovery Services, First American Equipment Finance, Community Bank System, Inc., Veterans Crisis Line, DePaul, Maryland State Police, Advance Testing Company, Casowasco Camp, Napolean Engineering Services, NYS DOT, People Inc., Chautauqua Institution, Owens Illinois, Newmeadow School, Fast Enterprises, Peace Corps, AMP Smart, Hillside Family of Agencies.