Career fairs ‘maxed out’ with employers

For the past few years, Alfred State College’s career fairs have grown significantly as more employers than before are coming to both campuses to recruit Pioneers.

While that trend continued this fall, an important milestone was achieved for the first time in the history of Alfred State career fairs: both events featured the maximum number of employers possible.

According to Elaine Morsman, director of Alfred State’s Career Development Center, the Alfred career fair at the Orvis Activities Center gymnasium drew 121 employers, while 96 came to the Pioneer Student Union on the Wellsville campus to recruit students. These numbers were even higher than last fall’s career fair totals of 112 for Alfred and 84 for Wellsville, which were records at the time.

“This was the first time that both campus career fairs maxed out,” Morsman said. “We even figured out how to fit more employers into each one, so these career fairs truly maxed out.”

With more employers than ever before coming to recruit Pioneers, the fall career fairs featured several new companies, including Kodak, Panasonic, Dominion Energy, and Whiting & Turner Construction. A number of employers came from outside of New York State, as well, including Schlumberger (Texas), Main Drilling & Blasting (Maine), and Balfour Beatty (Virginia).

Employers came away very impressed with Alfred State students, Morsman said.

“We received great feedback from employers,” she said. “A representative from D.P. Tool who attended the Wellsville career fair said, ‘We met some very impressive students at the job fair. This is one of the best recruiting events I’ve been to.’ Regarding the Alfred career fair, reps from Dominion Energy and Kodak both stated this was the best recruitment event they have attended and plan to continue coming back.”

Students are just as enthusiastic about meeting with employers at these events. This fall, more than 560 students attended the career fair in Wellsville, while 471 students attended the one in Alfred.

In addition to being able to network with employers and hand out their resumes, students attending the Alfred career fair were also able to get a professional headshot taken for their LinkedIn profile, courtesy of the college’s Business Professionals of America Club. Also, any student who dropped off their resume at the registration table at either career fair was entered in a drawing for $100 in merchandise from the campus store.

Catch a glimpse into the excitement of Alfred State’s career fairs by checking out the Career Development Center’s Facebook page (Career Development – Alfred State, SUNY College of Technology), Twitter account (@AlfredStateCD), and Instagram account (alfredstatecd).