The College of Management’s semi-annual career fair received well-rounded applause from students and recruiters.

The career fair was held at the McKimmon Center on Oct. 15.  Seventy-four companies had initially registered for the fair, and with 6 new companies being added at the last moment, the fair saw a total of 82 organizations during the day-long event.

The one thing that stood out was the smooth handling of the event by the College of Management. Recruiters were unanimous in their praise for the well-organized event, according to Greg Claussen, accounting manager at Caterpillar Inc.

“The coordination at this event has been much better here than other campuses we’ve been to.  Right from when I got out of my car, there were 4 people to greet me,” Claussen said. “We’ve been to Pennsylvania State and Michigan too, but this has been much better. I’m really impressed with this.”

Accoridng to Terry Bolte, senior account manager with UPS supply chain management, the students were of high quality.

 ”We’ve got some high quality applicants, and are looking at hiring fulltime for sales,” Bolte said.  

Bolte said that she was happy with how the event was handled.

“The lunch was great,” said Bolte.

The career fair had a generous mix of companies from all disciplines of management, including finance, retail, sales and insurance. Federal agencies like the EPA, IRS, Army and Navy ROTC, and Marine Corps were also present at the fair.

Olivia Davis, human relations specialist with the EPA said they were interested in students at all levels.

“We’re hiring both undergraduates and students in graduate school. It’s been great so far. The students are very enthusiastic,” Davis said.

Most companies were offering both internships as well as fulltime recruitments, giving the students a lot of options to choose from.

We’re looking for trainees to hire for both fulltime and internships. This is our second time here; we hired a few interns the last time,” Jesse Driscolle, regional assistant vice president at Horace Mann Insurance, said.

Nancy Hatfield, special agent with criminal investigation with the IRS said she met a lot of qualified candidates during the fair.

“No experience is required, we hire right out of college,” she said.  

Students, such as Christopher Prosser, a junior in business administration, said they found the career fair to be a useful opportunity to meet recruiters.

“We had a lot of great companies today, and they were really friendly and helpful,” Prosser said.  “They are not just talking to us, but they actually want to help us.”

Bryan Crolla, a junior in business administration, said he found the career fair to be a successful and useful event.  

“We always have good employers, and today also it was a good mix,” Crolla said.

Janet Rakes, undergraduate career coach with the College of Management, said she was pleased with the student turnout.

“We were expecting around 700 students, and we’ve already had 600 students visiting us with around 2 hours still left for the day. I think we’ll probably surpass our original estimates,” Rakes said.

The College of Management advertised about the event beforehand, and students were encouraged to attend the career fair.

“The College of Management did quite a bit of advertising, making sure people came at the event and that we had a good turnout,” Prosser said.