Employers regionwide to fill McDonough

Rebecca Jordan

News Editor

The part-time job fair being held on Feb. 3 and 4 offers students a variety of job openings to fit nearly any degree program while allowing students to earn some cash and experience.

“I think it’s very important for students to attend [the job fair], even if they’re not necessarily looking for a job. It’s a great way to network and experience making that connection with an employer as a kind of practice,” said Gayle Healy, director of the Center for Careers and Transfer.

The first floor of the Campus Center will host 67 employers over the course of the two days according to last week’s employer directory. Different organizations will be attending each day offering over 150 positions to students.

“I think we have a good representation of jobs,” said Healy. Employers and positions range from cat sitting with Twenty Toes Cat Sitting to working as a teleprompter operator with WNYT-TV.

If students are interested in working part-time with children, they can stop at the Mad Science of the Capital District table to get information about becoming an after school enrichment programs science instructor. For those who are more attracted to jobs involving outdoor physical activity, the YMCA Camp Chingachgook program is looking for a challenge course specialist.

In April, the college will also be holding a fulltime job fair on April 5 for both the public and any interested students. “The full-time job fair is bigger, and we host it in McDonough,” Healy said. “We try to give it a more professional vibe because it’s for professional employment.” According to Healy, it’s usually harder to get students at the fulltime fair because McDonough is rather out-of-the-way and isn’t as obvious for students.

Though the part-time fair is better-attended than the full-time according to Healy, the Center for Careers and Transfer has no way of tracking the number of students who attended any of the past job fairs, nor do they have numbers on how many students are offered and have accepted jobs.

Amy Valyou is an architecture student who was given a job at the JC Penney portrait studio as a photographer as a result of a college job fair last semester. “[The job fair] was a big convenience because [the employers] were all looking for people and they were eager to hire people on-the-spot,” she said. Without the job fair, Valyou said she would have had to go business-to-business with her résumé.

Healy also pointed out that students can get a head start on the real-world application of their degrees by holding a job. “Pioneer Bank is hiring for a teller. If you’re in a business program, that’s a great way to get experience in your field without even having a degree,” she said.

“It’s not like applying for a job online; it gives the student and employer the opportunity to actually make that first connection face-to-face, which is important,” Healy said.