Over 100 employers showed up at Lee Arena for the career fair and students grabbed the networking opportunity Feb. 26 from 10 a.m. – 2 p.m.
“Washburn does a great job of putting on a great career fair for not only the business side of things, but for the student side of things as well,” said Christina Dehner-Springer, recruiter for Landmark National Bank.
The university put up a lot of diverse opportunities for varying fields of study. Washburn students received an email before the event that listed all the employers and their industry. Sydney Steffen, assistant director of career engagement, was one of the main people in charge of the event. To make it more engaging, there were raffles for scholarships and one for diploma frames.
“The career fair, so far, has been really productive for me. I think I’ve talked to a lot of people who can kind of guide where I want to go career-wise after college,” said Cassius O’Brien-Stiner, freshman exploratory major.
Dehner-Springer believes that their culture is what makes Landmark Bank stand out along with having a prospect of growth.
“Students are looking for somewhere to land and stay with,” Dehner-Springer said. “They want to land somewhere that they can grow in and also, not only have those outside connections, but the inside connections with other associates, so building that team camaraderie.”
Washburn provided refreshments for employers and pizza and hot chocolate for students throughout the event. Students networked with the employers and got a little token of free stuff from their booth.
Along with other employers, there was Amberwell Health, a critical-access hospital. At their booth, Chelsea James, internal care director of Amberwell, along with Kaylee Dobbins, manager of health information at Amberwell, believed that the career fair turned out well.
“There’s been a lot of turnout. We’ve gotten a lot of contact cards with a lot of different areas of studies, and people who may be interested in positions with Amberwell. So, I feel like it’s been pretty well, pretty successful,” Dobbins said.
Ed Mohan, director of strategic initiatives of Haas Metal Engineering, Inc., has been working with HME for 20 years and has seen the growth of the company.
“When I started, it was one company and 35 people,” Mohan said. “Today, it’s six companies and about 620 people or so. So, that’s been really the thing that’s kind of kept me around and keeps things exciting.”
HME targeted certain majors for recruitment for which would be best suited for the company.
“We’re looking for construction science and management, engineering, accounting, drafting programs like what the Washburn Tech students have for that kind of deal,” Mohan said. “Those would probably be the main avenues that we’re looking at.”
Before students leave, they are encouraged to fill out a survey so that Washburn can curate a career fair that better fits the student population in the upcoming semester.
“We look at survey feedback to see what we hear from students and employers, and then any students that reach out and let us know about different things that they’d like to see, we do our best to make things work, if we can,” Steffen said.
Career fairs are held every semester at Washburn.
Edited by Stuti Khadka and Jayme Thompson.
