Daytona State’s Job Fair brings out community, corporate professionals

Scott Turner
In Motion Staff Writer

The Student Development department at Daytona State has many responsibilities aiding student needs, including career advising and placement services. These services culminated in the recent Job Fair, which gave students the opportunity to meet potential employers. The directors of the event and businesses and students attending it shared their thoughts on the experience.

The intent of the Job Fair is to connect students with the employers and provide them with the opportunity to give their resume, ask questions, and even conduct on site interviews.

“The main focus is trying to connect students with employees.” said Debra Manning, Career Advisor with Student Development and Director of the Job Fair. “We also vary the types of businesses attending to provide opportunities for all different majors.”

Beyond just connecting students and employers Student Development also offers preparatory work beforehand.

“We also provide resume preparation and interview tips to students who want them at the Career Placement Center.” Manning said.

Many of the businesses attending were returning from previous years. According to Terrance Hilbert, Associate Director of Student Development, “We have 32 returning businesses, and everyone who attended last year has returned. We’ve actually grown to the point where we had to turn several businesses away. We’re looking for ways to expand in the coming years.”

A total of 483 students attended the Job Fair, a 30% increase over the previous year according to Manning.

Johnathan Davis and Sean Henderson, two students who attended the event, related positive experiences.

“I got a lot of positive reaction out of the companies I was looking at,” said Henderson, “I got a lot of job and internship offers already. I’d definitely recommend it to other students.”

“Everyone was very friendly here, and I got my resume delivered to the companies I was interested in. It’s much better than last years, there’s a lot more company reps present. I’d definitely recommend it to other students too.” Davis said.

The businesses present also had good things to say about the event. Massey Services Inc has been attending the Job Fair for several years, and always considered it a good investment.

“We’ve been attending this Job Fair for about five to six years now,” said Gregg Scott, General Manager at Massey, “we’re always looking for good people and we’ve already set up a dozen interviews today.”

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University attended the event for the first time, and had good things to say as well.

“We’ve had about 60 people come by and apply for the positions we’re offering, and there’s several strong contenders for them from that group. It’s also good to be part of a local job fair, since there aren’t that many in Volusia County. We usually have to head to Orlando and are happy to be here.”

The Marco Island Police Department also attended for the first time and expressed a desire to return.

“It’s quite an impressive event. We’ve had a bunch of people who are asking all the right questions. There’s actually a Public Services job fair here next month, and I’m going to be recommending to my superiors that we attend that as well.” said Officer Kyle Kreis.

This job fair is the first of two job fairs held at Daytona State. The next, the Health and Public Services Job Expo, will be held April 7 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the Mori Hosseini Center. For those wanting more information on the Expo, contact Miriam G. Ruiz at 386-506-3687 or ruizm@daytonastate.edu. Those wanting any help preparing for the job fair or wanting career advising in any fashion should visit the Career Placement Center at any Daytona State College Campus.