Washburn University held its semiannual Career Fair on Tuesday, Sept. 13,  in Lee Arena.  The Career Fair is designed for students and community members to meet important people in their area of expertise and get an idea of what jobs are available. 

Some of the businesses in attendance included Cumulus Broadcasting, imageQuest, Bartlett and West, State Street and Saint Francis Community Services, Inc.  Many of the businesses have attended the fair at Washburn more than once.

Christina Johnson of Cumulus Broadcasting, Inc. said that Cumulus is currently looking to hire for two positions: a sales representative and a part-time board operator and programming assistant who helps out in running different events that Cumulus does. Prospects should be reliable, outgoing and hard working with a flexible schedule.

Cumulus Broadcasting, Inc. is a broadcast company that owns six radio stations in Topeka and many more stations throughout the United States.  Local Cumulus stations broadcast anything from rock music to country music to sports.

State Street is a banking company that is into institutional investment banking.  They have been around since 1792 and are based out of Boston, Mass. They provide financial services to mutual funds companies, insurance companies and companies and states with pension plans.

“At State Street, we look for well-rounded business students,” said Bret Fischer with State Street. “Our positions are kind of a combination of accounting, finance and economics all rolled into one package. We don’t get hung up on the type of degree.  We look for someone with the ability to learn new things because, in our industry, things constantly change, so you have to constantly learn new regulations and new ways of doing things. We look for people who have innovation, the ability to think outside the box and come up with better solutions for solving problems.”

State Street is a global company that has been affected by the recession.  However, Fischer says that Kansas City has been designated as a growth site for State Street.  It is anticipated that they will add 600-800 new employees in the next couple of years. 

Bartlett & West is a civil engineering and special technology firm.  They have 330 employees at 11 locations all over the Midwest.  The company supports the school and gives scholarships to pre-engineering students.

Ali Williams, a former Washburn graduate and employee at Barlett & West, said that they have been really lucky during the recession.

“We have really loyal clients and we’re in a market where there’s not a lot of competition,” said Williams.  “We are a pretty small engineering firm and we have hired 65 people since January.”

imageQuest is a Xerox company that provides office and production equipment, digital color and software solutions.

Jeanna Allen from imageQuest says they’ve been on a hiring kick since November and are busier than they’ve ever been.  While imageQuest is also looking for outgoing, hard-working individuals with flexible, they are also looking for somebody who is willing to relocate.  imageQuest has locations in Wichita, Lenexa and Salina.

Saint Francis Community Services, represented at the fair by Heather Elliott, is a company that specializes in social services for families in Kansas.  In the northeastern part of Kansas, the company’s goal is family preservation and they work with families before the children are removed from the home.  Intensive in-home services are provided to help keep the family together.  The company has offices in the western half of the state where they provide foster care services as well. 

Elliott said that, being in the social work field, the recession hasn’t impacted the company’s services or amount of hiring.

“We’ve done the fair here for four years and it’s always been a great success for us,” said Johnson. “We always meet some great potential interns and employees here.”