The 2023 career and internship fair saw an increase in employers.
With the number of employers being higher than ever, the most opportunities remained to be the most beneficial for business, engineering, and manufacturing students.
Business and government agencies from the State of Michigan, and troopers from the Indiana State Police agency, showed up to learn about the students as well as to give out information to any student freshman to senior who may not have been looking for a career at the time, but simply had questions about the business that each student might end up working for after graduating from Ferris.
Career and volunteer center coordinator Michele Albright helped organize the career fair.
“Our goal with the Career and Internship Fairs each semester are to provide students with the greatest variety of opportunities to explore careers and support their professional development through firsthand interaction with employers,” Albright said. “ In my role as the career readiness specialist and employer liaison, I have also been fortunate to create relationships with many people and many industries over the years, that return year after year to support Ferris State and recruit our students.”
Albright also explained that a common challenge yearly is finding job seekers who look beyond the name of the business to see that their degree has helped prepare them to work in settings that may not seem typical for that field.
CAPS was not the only organization that was excited about the Career Fair. Mackenzie Bowers, a Ferris alumnus and a representative from Hex Armor, an industrial manufacturing company that is based in Grand Rapids, was one of the recruiters at the career fair on Thursday.
“I wanted to expand Hex Armors footprint in Michigan,” Bowers said. “Being based in Grand Rapids we usually hire Grand Rapids area graduates, but we want to expand and hire graduates from other schools.”
The businesses and staff at Ferris put a lot of effort into trying to make this an excellent occasion for students to learn about the career and internship opportunities available to them. The students also put in effort, as there was a sizable population of students dressed professionally that were approaching the booths and getting out their resumes.
Business administration senior Deandre Brown went to the fair looking to make connections.
“I want to find an internship where I can provide skills and the knowledge that I have for the job,” Brown said. “Hopefully after the internship I can get the job permanently.”
While this career fair may be over, the CAPS office will be hosting another career fair next semester, where students who may have missed the fair or students still looking for another opportunity to find an internship can connect with future employers to discover more internship opportunities.