ALFRED, NY – Alfred University has adapted to the COVID-19 crisis by using technology to meet the needs of students. The University’s Robert R. McComsey Career Development showed its creativity recently when it held an online event connecting students with potential employers.
In response to the COVID-19 crisis Alfred University moved to an online model of instruction and canceled many of its on-campus events, including the Spring Career Fair, originally scheduled for March 26. The Spring Career Fair is an annual event at which representatives from a wide variety of industries recruit Alfred University students for internships, co-ops, summer jobs, and full-time positions.
Although Alfred University could not hold an in-person event, it was still able to connect students with employers through a Virtual Spring Career Fair. From March 23 through April 10, the Career Development Center collected more than 760 resumes from Alfred University students. The resumes are being distributed to nearly 60 companies, which will then reach out to students to discuss potential employment.
“I am very pleased to see so many students engage through our career software platform Handshake and submit their resumes during our virtual career fair,” remarked Valerie Daciw, Employer Relations Coordinator. “I am proud to be working with my fellow colleagues: it was a full team effort to turn this event from an in-person fair to a virtual event, as career fairs have a lot of moving parts. We are very lucky to have dedicated employer partners: they were all very accommodating and interested in engaging virtually with our students.”
Sponsors for the Virtual Spring Career Fair were PCC Airfoils, Kohler Inc., Owens-Illinois, Corning Inc., The Collegiate and NSG. Among the many employers that participated in the Career Fair were PCC Airfoils, Pegula Sports Entertainment, Enterprise Rental Car, MacKenzie-Childs, Kohler, and NSG.
“PCC Airfoils continues to recruit co-ops and full-time students from Alfred University during these challenging times,” remarked Scott Richmond, Director of Talent Development at PCC Airfoils. “The virtual career fair has provided us an opportunity and resource to maintain our technical pipeline and allow us to build for the future. Having a strong technical workforce of engineers to support our manufacturing teams is key for our continued success.”
The Career Development Center staff offers services for resume building, interviewing skills, and answers to any questions students and alumni might have about professional development and careers. Handshake contains many resources available to students and alumni, such as a resource library, virtual event registration, job search capabilities and more. For the full list of services available virtually through email as well as phone and video calls, visit the Career Development Center website.
