Business career fair matches students with employees
RU marketing professor Gary Schirr with recent alumna and now Technical Recruiter Sarah Leonard during the recent Fall Business and Nonprofit Career and Internship Fair
The Radford University Career Center provided business-minded students an opportunity to meet and talk face-to-face with recruiters from Fortune 500 companies at its Business and Nonprofit Career and Internship Fair on Sept. 17 in the College of Business and Economics Multipurpose Room.
Dressed to impress and armed with polished resumes, more than 275 students from various majors attended the event looking to get their feet in the door for future internships and employment.
Chelsie Cahoon, a junior majoring in fashion merchandising with a minor in marketing, attended the career fair to explore the numerous opportunities available. "This is a great opportunity to meet new people and see what opportunities are available," said the Clifton Forge native and aspiring fashion buyer.
Spence Stinson is double majoring in accounting and finance. He is set to graduate in December 2015, and said he attended the event "looking for summer opportunities that could potentially become full-time opportunities" in the accounting, finance or insurance fields.
"So far, so good," said the senior from Salem. "The event has been very beneficial, and I'm very optimistic about the future."
The fair is one of many career events sponsored by the Career Center during the fall semester. Other scheduled events include the Government and Criminal Justice Career and Internship Fair on Oct. 8 and the STEM Career and Internship Fair on Nov. 5. A second business fair is scheduled for Jan. 28.
Many of the recruiters at the event scheduled follow-up interviews with students, and representatives from four businesses returned to campus to conduct interviews, said Teresa Dickens, assistant director of the Career Center.
RU's Career Center helps students and graduates realize their career potential and aspirations through career advising, resources, connections and by fostering a campus-wide commitment to the career development of RU students.
Luis Grande talks with Cobb Technologies' Director of Human Resources Richard Carlton about career opportunities
More than 40 employers sent representatives to the business career fair, and many of those representatives were RU alumni, said Ellen Taylor, director of the Career Center.
"It's huge to have alumni come back. They understand our students because they were in their shoes at some point," Taylor said. "They can speak to our students directly about moving from college into a career. And it's important for the students to see successful RU alumni and say, 'I can do that.'"
Jami Ryan '00, founder and president of the popular website NextThreeDays.com, was one of the alumni who attended the career fair. He was recruiting students for internships at his company throughout the year.
"I wanted to meet the best and brightest of Radford," Ryan said. "I have a ton of resumes. I will make them take the next step, just to make sure they are interested. There are a couple of people I'm really looking forward to talking to more."
At the career fair, Robin Mastracco represented Fedbid, a web-based marketplace for business-to-government e-commerce. She said her company came to RU looking for students who are "highly motivated, good team workers, go-getters and have good communication skills."
Mastracco said RU graduates currently at Fedbid have "proven to be great assets for our company. We've had great success here, so it's a good avenue for us to pursue."