A job fair was hosted at Valencia College on Wednesday in hopes of creating a network between graduating students and the various businesses that took part in the event.
“What’s unique about the event this year is that we have three departments — Internship and Workforce Services, the Alumni Association and the Career Center — that collaborated in order to plan and organize this job fair,” said Carmen Diaz, a Valencia College employee within the Internship and Workforce Services.
Over 20 different businesses specializing in a large variety of areas within the workforce showed up to participate.
“Our focus is to let the students who are graduating know which companies are hiring, what types of things employers are looking for, and also to allow the students to get to know several employers in the area,” said Diaz. “It’s also the perfect opportunity for these employers to develop a relationship with our college in terms of them forwarding future job opening and internship information to us.”
Workshops for creating resumes and portfolios had been held before the event. Some students were even encouraged to take classes offered on campus, which taught them how to build a resume within the area of their specific major.
“Valencia definitely prepared me for this,” said Jorge Santos, a graduating senior majoring in graphics. “The very last class I needed to take for graphics was called ‘Portfolio Review,’ where we were able to build our portfolio and design our own business cards.”
Walt Disney Company, Wells Fargo and Lowe’s were just a few of the many companies that took part in the job fair.
“I’m actually an alumni,” said Stacy Przybyl, a recruiter from Expedia. “I always try to keep up to date with what’s going on, and when I heard about this, I had to get on board.”
Przybyl added that from an employer’s perspective, it is helpful for students to take part in events like this. “Placing a face and a personality with the resume really helps,” said Przybyl. “I’m able to put a reference in with those who are hiring at the company based on my interaction with them.”
