Community-Wide Job Fair Hosted by College

HVCC was host to a community-wide job fair in the McDonough Sports Complex on March 12. The fair hosted 75 different businesses, and “We open the fair up to the community. Not many other colleges do that,” said Gayle Healy, Director of the Center for Careers and Employment. Dante Tarantini, a Physical Education major, felt that the fair was “pretty cool for unemployed students looking for jobs to help pay for expenses.” Paola Jazmin Gonzalez, freshman Business Administration said, “I like that you can make direct contact with people in the businesses, and the representatives pointed out jobs that weren’t offered online, but there weren’t nearly enough part-time employers.” In general, the students who went to the fair were contented but not impressed.

“The fair should come more often and have more companies,” said Shilynn Blunt, a Health Administration major.
Kimberly Guynup, a major in Business Administration, added that, “There were way too many marketing and sales places that run off of commission and not enough places hiring for management positions.” Senior CAD Certificate students Ken Mirocki and Nate Berard agree that they “were hoping to talk to more people in the manufacturing field,” while Roxy Robinson, another CAD student, said that “There was a nice variety at the fair, but there still weren’t enough employers.”

Ben Meyers, class of 2010 alumni, came to the fair in suit and tie and said “I’m going to Siena now…I think I’ll try to apply to Global Foundries and I definitely like how many companies came to the fair this year.” The fair had a wide variety of companies showing, such as a nanny business, a propane company, a Catholic disability service, and a solar module installation firm. Despite the great variety at the fair, there was minimal advertising for the event.

A representative from New England Nanny, Melissa Schoonmaker, pointed out that, “The traffic was light and there were no signs around campus to advertise the event.” Debra Medina, also a representative from New England Nanny, added that, “Many kids came up and asked what our company does… it would help if the packet with the businesses in it had a quick blurb about each company.” Both Holly Durivage of Catholic Charities Disabilities Services and Sean Ackerman of Paraco Gas said that the fact that the event is open to the community gives a great range of experience. Durivage said, “The Career Fair is very well run and organized.” Ackerman added, “The setup was painless…the staff was very mindful of our need. Great staff!”