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The Career Services department of Pittsburg State University recently hosted a jobs and internship expo to help students become connected with companies and organizations.
On Oct. 19 and 20, students were given the opportunity to meet with recruiters and HR managers to talk about opportunities.
“This is a two-day event,” said Jaime Dalton, director of Career Services at Pittsburg State University. “We previously have had it at the Plaster Center as one big job fair one day only, and this year we decided to try to bring it back to main campus to the Oval and utilize this awesome space but break it into two days.”
The expo was split into two days to allow for students to connect with as many organizations and businesses that are relevant to them.
“Day one is health, human services and education focused with 73 employers,” Dalton said. “Day two is business and industry with 95 companies.
Dalton recommends the event for any student.
“I would say it’s good no matter what year you’re in,” Dalton said. “Some students come as freshmen for the experience and to start making contacts with people and businesses they might be interested in working for down the road. It’s never too early to make that contact.”
The expo is not only focused on finding students long-term employment. Many organizations also offer internships over summer and winter breaks for students to take part in.
“A lot of places are here looking for (students to intern) over winter break and over the summer break,” Dalton said. “Sophomores and juniors can find a lot of connections there, and obviously for our seniors looking for jobs, this is the place to be.”
Dalton talked about the eagerness of employers to recruit PSU students.
“Employers are hungry for our Pitt State students this year and so they are showing up,” Dalton said. “We hope students will show up too.”
The first day of the event was attended primarily by school districts and health systems in Kansas and Missouri.
“We have a lot of USD systems here today (day 1), and in February we also do a teacher interview day which is more of a focused, scheduled day (for teaching students),” Dalton said. “Then we have a ton of health systems that are here to talk about a variety of positions.”
Many students struggle to find connections to employers and internships while in college. This event offers those students an environment to find opportunities in their field of study.
“It is so important to connect students with employers and a lot of times students, unless their families have connections or their friends have connections, don’t know how to start that conversation, and so this (event) gives students the opportunity. That’s pretty informal to come and start learning how to have those conversations and then actually make a connection that could literally land them a job.”
Many students were able to find success at the fall career expo either by finding opportunities or becoming more comfortable networking.
“I decided to come to this event, so I think it’s a great networking opportunity and a great opportunity to practice your skills,” said Taylor Brynds, junior in psychology. “(I’m here) speaking with potential employers and just getting to know a lot of different companies and people who are working at them. Then I’m also interested in looking at summer internships.”
Career Services will hold another expo in the spring to continue to connect students to employers and organizations.