Assiniboine College hosted their inaugural Career Fair last Thursday afternoon at the Victoria Ave East campus in Brandon, providing students the opportunity to connect with employers from a range of industries looking to hire staff. This was a key engagement opportunity for students looking to launch or advance their careers.
“Work integrated learning is one of the most impactful learning opportunities available to students, bridging the gap between classroom learning and industry practice,” said Lisa Huston, Industry Liaison and Work Integrated Learning Coordinator for the Peters School of Business at Assiniboine College.
“Through these strong partnerships with employers throughout the province, Assiniboine provides students with connections and experiences that build career-ready skills and sets them up for long-term success,” she adds.
Huston says the event focused on their soon to graduate students who are job hunting and starting their new careers. "A lot of these companies are looking for summer staff, so this was just a great opportunity for them to meet the next wave of skilled talent that's about to hit the ground running!"
Hundreds of students learned of a wide variety of job opportunities in many fields, with over 70 potential employers participating.
"This wasn't so much about student recruitment as it was about employment recruitment for industry and putting that extra effort into helping our students who are about to graduate, be able to seek out some their new careers," adds Huston.
"Certainly, there was a buzz all throughout the college. We had just over 70 employers and industry experts from all different sectors on our Victoria Ave East Campus. We had them all throughout the college. They were in the cafeteria in the gymnasium and down in our School of Business area and the Students Association Lounge. And we had some presentations being done in some classrooms that were focused on some certain industries,"
she explains. "Just lots of great stuff going on!"
To help students make the most of the Career Fair, Assiniboine College hosted workshops and networking sessions leading up to the day with attendees being encouraged to bring resumes, prepare for professional conversations, and explore the many career paths available at the event.
Workshops included building a resume, how to network, and they even had mock interviews with the students with professionals from the business sector who volunteered their time to facilitate these interviews to practice those skills.
"We are so fortunate to have so many volunteer interviewers from a variety of businesses from around town, come in and take time out of their busy schedules to sit down with students and give them the opportunity to sort of practice and hone-in on their interview skills," adds Huston. "So just great support all around."
"It really speaks to the support that Assiniboine has from industry," she says. "They support us, they know the quality education we provide, they know that students are graduating with job ready skills and they're ready to hit the ground running. And so, they really appreciated that early sneak peek to be able to come on campus and meet them, and the students were ready!"
Please listen to more with Lisa Huston below!
wil@assiniboine.net