Courtney Laverdure
Staff writer
On Wednesday in the Curris Center Ballroom 78-plus companies and universities came to Murray State to recruit some Murray talent at the Spring All-Major Career Fair.
10 new visitors to this year’s Career Fair included AgXplore International Inc., Bell and Associates Construction, Black Gold Farms, Emerson Climate Technologies, Nucor Steel Arkansas, Owens Corning, Solutia Inc., Ulrich Medical Concepts, Vectren Corporation and The Webstaurant Store.
Ross Meloan, Director of Career Services, noted there has been a sizable uptick in the availability of internships and co-ops.
“The people behind this graduating class will be able to participate in these internships and co-ops and they will reap the career benefits when they graduate,” Meloan said.
Meloan said he is very pleased with this year’s turnout to the Career Fair.
“Murray State and its students have been a direct beneficiary to the climbing economy,” he said.
Career Services sends out an electric invite to nearly 1300 employers including those employers who have continued to come back. Those that want to participate respond by signing up online.
“This institution has an incredible reputation for developing excellent individuals across a variety of academic disciplines,” Meloan said.
He said that Murray State fairs very well against its competitors with the students that it puts into the job market.
“I am very confident in the quality of the students’ knowledge, experience and work ethic and this is supported by the ‘repeat customers’ to our Career Fair year after year,” Meloan said.
Whitney Wicker, a Career Counselor with Murray State Career Services said the turn out for the Spring Semester Career Fair seemed a little low.
“I have been surprised by the turnout so far, we have only had about 320 students and it is nearly 1:00 p.m.,” Wicker said. “The day’s total for the Fall Career Fair was more than 700. Historically though, the turnout in the Fall has been larger,” She said.
Career Services has been heavily advertising the services they offer to students and soon to be graduates using social media tools such as Twitter and Facebook. This unique way of reaching the right demographic has promoted a spike in the use of Career Services.
“A lot of our services have been utilized a lot more as in résumé critiques and the mock interview program and I think this is due to the heightened awareness,” Wicker said.
One of the heavy hitters at this semester’s Career Fair was the United States Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. ATF arrived on Campus with 24 positions available for only 24 hours which closed at midnight on Wednesday.
Although the list of employers was extensive, some students felt the Career Fair was geared toward many of the same fields.
“There is not a good variety, it is targeted toward only certain majors on campus,” Jordan Hagen, senior from Belleville, Ill., said.
The next All-Majors Career Fair will be held in the Fall.
