Washburn University hosted its on-campus job fair Aug. 21, bringing together departments and organizations hiring student workers to help students gain early career experience.

“It’s so critical that our students are able to develop their career competencies while they’re here in school,” said Sydney Steffen, assistant director of Career Engagement.

Steffen added that the event connected students with campus departments and organizations hiring student workers, giving them a first step toward internships and future employment.

“On-campus jobs allow that to kind of be that first step of employment before they do an internship or off-campus employment during their college career,” Steffen said.

Sierra Vigneron, graduate psychology major, is a student worker who shared that career engagement provides resources like resume and cover letter support along with tools to improve interviewing skills.

“We offer a lot of resources online, but also in our office, we can help with building a resume, a cover letter and interviewing skills,” Vigneron said. 

Vigneron talked about a new online tool, Big Interview. She talked further about this free resource for students to use.

“You can use [Big Interview] anytime that can help you start a resume, fix a resume, build a cover letter and build those interviewing skills if you don’t have time to meet with our office,” Vigneron said.

Vigneron explained that students can schedule in-person appointments with Career Engagement through Handshake, an online platform that also connects them to events and off-campus employers for internships and jobs. 

The Aleshire Center for Leadership and Community Engagement, a student resource located in the Plass Learning Resource Center, is one of the many offices on campus that employs a number of student workers in its office.

“For the employment part [Aleshire Center] , we use the Federal Work Study,” said Jenny Lieurance, associate director of Aleshire Center for Leadership and Community Engagement.

Lieurance emphasized that Aleshire offers both short and long-term opportunities for student engagement. She encouraged students to explore programs like the Bonner and community based work study to connect with service opportunities.

The fair highlighted the importance of student employment as part of the college experience.

Edited by Stuti Khadka and Jeremy Ford