Washburn University’s Career and Internship Expo held at the Student Wellness and Recreation Centre from 10 a.m.- 2 p.m. on Sept. 17 welcomed hundreds of students and alumni to explore professional opportunities to connect with around 120 organizations representing various industries.

The purpose of this event is to connect students with multiple employers and organizations for potential jobs and internships in one place, offering interview practice and advice, helping attendees improve their professional presentation and readiness.

James Barraclough, director of the career engagement office, talks about how the event provides opportunities to both the students and the employers for networking and engagement for internships and job recruitments.

“Different organizations, different employers right here and they represent all kinds of different industries and they’re recruiting for anything from part time jobs and internships to full time jobs, and some of them, in general, are here to network and engage with students as early as first year students to try to help connect with students and get them thinking about career opportunities for when the time comes,” Barraclough said.

The event was held at the Student Recreational & Wellness Center this year due to the construction in the Lee Arena, where the event had been held for many years.

“Lee Arena is not available right at this moment in time. So our colleagues here in the Student Recreation Wellness Center were kind enough to let us actually use their gymnasium space, because it, frankly, was the next largest option available for us,” Barraclough said.

Many students got an opportunity to talk with various companies from different fields, which allowed them to explore different resources and options available in Kansas. 

Melicia Hernandez, sophomore psychology major, appreciates the opportunity to see many companies looking to hire, noting that it’s rare to find such interest and good pay rates online. She is particularly interested in jobs related to her major, but also explored financial advisory services.

“There are a lot of times when I would go online to look for a job opportunity, and not a lot of people like it, either up my interest or of like, a good pay rate would be hiring. So I see a lot of that here,” Hernandez said.

Calli Siebert, sophomore art education major, appreciates the increased presence of military and police academies at this year’s event, noting it was a significant change from the previous year. She found the event to be beneficial for her career in art education, as it introduced her to new school districts like Omaha and Park Hill School District.

“It was nice there. I did notice there were a lot of military and police academies around, which I thought was kind of cool. Because, you know, I think it was last year they didn’t have too many of those,” Siebert said.

The event provided students and employers with a dynamic platform for networking, professional growth and discovery of new opportunities. By participating, students took an important step toward clarifying their goals and building confidence for future success in the workforce.

Edited by Stuti Khadka