Career Fair Gives Students Chance to Meet Area Employers

WINTERVILLE—Pitt Community College held its annual Spring Career Fair April 17, giving students a chance to meet with area employers about potential job and internship opportunities.

The fair, which was organized by PCC Career Services, drew approximately 400 students to the Craig F. Goess Student Center’s Davenport Multipurpose Room, where they met with 38 employers representing a variety of businesses and industries.

PCC Career Services Coordinator Arwen Parris says the fair has grown considerably since 2010, when 130 students came out to meet with 32 employers in the Charles Coburn Center. A record 415 students participated in last year’s event – 35 more than the 380 who came out to the fair in 2017.

Parris said this year’s event was open to full- and part-time students, distance learners, Continuing Education students and alumni. The goal, she said, was to help each one prepare for a successful future.

“The career fair is not just for students seeking jobs and internships; it can benefit all students in gaining the information they need to take their next steps, whether those next steps are selecting a major, choosing a university, getting experience, or beginning a career,” Parris said. “There’s always a next step.”

To help students prepare, Parris says Career Services staff visited classrooms to discuss the purpose of career fairs and share details about employers expected to be in attendance, jobs and internships, how participants should introduce themselves to employers, and steps they should take following the event. She said Career Services also scheduled hours for students to drop in during the week prior to the fair and receive assistance with creating and updating resumes.

“Preparing students for a successful career fair experience was a campus-wide effort,” Parris said. “The PCC Women’s Resource Center hosted a Soft Skills Workshop on April 15 to assist students with developing effective verbal and nonverbal communication skills, and the college’s Men’s Resource Center hosted a clothing drive to support male students with obtaining free business and professional clothes to wear to the fair.”

In addition to meeting employers, Parris said the fair offered students an opportunity to sit for a professional portrait they can attach to resumes or use as a profile picture on LinkedIn.

Parris said 11 employers—Advance Mechanical Heating & Air Conditioning, Autism Society of NC, DENSO, Edwards, Inc., Farrior & Sons, Inc., MegaForce Staffing, Mestek, Inc., Smithfield Packaged Meats, Corp., Thermo Fisher Scientific, UniFirst Corporation and Vidant Health—sponsored the 2019 PCC Career Fair. She said sponsorship funding ensures PCC Career Services will have the financial support needed to continue hosting career fairs.

04/29/2019