2018 Career Fair Sees Record Participation

WINTERVILLE—More than 400 students took advantage of a valuable opportunity to meet with area employers this month during the Pitt Community College Spring Career Fair.

Held Wednesday in the Craig F. Goess Student Center’s Davenport Multipurpose Room, the fair featured 37 businesses recruiting employees for current and future job openings. The event was open to the college’s full- and part-time students, distance learners, Continuing Education students and alumni.

PCC Career Services Coordinator Arwen Parris helped organize the fair and said she hoped the event helped attendees increase their knowledge of local career possibilities and the educational programs that lead to them, internships, and ways to gain experience.

“Career fairs help students connect what they’re learning in the classroom to potential internship and career paths,” Parris said. “Students get to meet the community employers who are providing those opportunities and learn more about them.”

Parris said she has already received positive feedback from employers that participated in the fair. One, she said, was particularly pleased with the “overall student involvement” while another who has attended many other career fairs stated that PCC’s program was “definitely the best one, yet.”

All told, 415 students came out to this year’s career fair, topping last year’s record attendance of 380.

“Our career fairs help employers meet their workforce needs by putting them in front of the knowledgeable and skilled students PCC educates and empowers,” Parris said, adding that 13 employers that participated in the event – Advance Mechanical, Atlantic Wireless, Autism Society of N.C., Curtis Construction, Donley’s Concrete, Down East Protection Systems, Farrior & Sons, Inc., Greenville Utilities Commission, Keihin Carolina System Technology, Penco, SPC Mechanical, UniFirst, Wells Fargo & Company – also sponsored it.

In the weeks leading up to the fair, PCC Career Services staff took several measures to help students prepare for it, including tips from employers on how to stand out during the event and resume reviews.

Preparations also included a “What Not to Wear” event hosted by the PCC Women’s Resource Center that offered students advice on how to dress professionally for the career fair. The PCC Men’s Resource Center, meanwhile, organized a clothing drive in March that led to male students being able to pick out complete professional outfits to wear to the career fair and future job interviews.

04/23/2018