Each semester, the number of employers attending Alfred State College’s career fairs continues to grow. This semester was no exception, as more employers than ever before recently came to both campuses to recruit ASC students.
According to Elaine Morsman, director of Alfred State’s Career Development Center, the fall 2018 Alfred and Wellsville career fairs attracted 110 employers and 84 employers, respectively. Both of these figures are record-highs for the college.
The totals have increased significantly since the fall 2017 semester alone, when 86 employers attended the Alfred career fair and 68 came to the recruiting event in Wellsville. In the spring of 2018, the numbers increased to 96 at Alfred and 80 in Wellsville.
Morsman said the increase can be attributed to a number of factors, including the quality of Alfred State students, the difficulty employers are having with filling openings, the increased need to fill positions in a variety of industries because of retirement and growing demand, and word-of-mouth about the quality of career fairs.
“Employers consistently tell us that they love Alfred State career fairs,” Morsman said. “In fact, they note that ours are their favorites to attend.”
Also worth noting is the 196 percent increase in the combined unique employer numbers in Alfred State fall career fairs within the past five years. This statistic signifies the total number of employers who attended career fairs on both campuses.
According to Morsman, the combined total unique employers for both campuses climbed from 56 in the fall of 2013 to 166 this fall.
“This includes a 180 percent increase from 2013 to 2018 for the Wellsville campus fall career fairs, and a 214 percent increase for the Alfred campus fall career fairs,” Morsman explained.
In addition to networking with students, one of the best parts about having employers come to campus, Morsman said, is seeing graduates who had received résumé assistance at her office while they were students now on the other side of the table as recruiters.
“There were many very recent grads who had connected with their current employer through an Alfred State career fair,” she said.
Not only are employers flocking to ASC’s career fairs, but students are as well. Morsman noted that a total of 607 students signed in to the fall 2018 career fair in Wellsville, and 518 students signed in to the Alfred event. These numbers are also way up from the fall of 2013, when 500 students attended the Wellsville career fair, and 349 students attended the one in Alfred.
“It is worth noting the significant growth of the career fairs,” Morsman said. “This would not be possible without the exceptional working relationship that we have with our faculty. We commend our faculty for working together with us to share contact information and work as part of the same team. The faculty are also instrumental in our increase in student interest and attendance at the fairs.”