The Career Expo made its return again for the fifth year in the Mini-Dome, helping ETSU students start on the path to finding a career outside of college.
“We normally have around 60 businesses,” said Erin Whitley, an outreach and employer services coordinator. “This time we have a little over 90.”
One of the businesses looking for potential employees was Dollywood, which is located in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.
“We have anything from food service, to operations, to food merchandise, to entry level management,” said Talent Acquisition Supervisor Leia Haney.
One thing Dollywood looks for in its potential employees is the ability to be comfortable with the public.
“Even if you’re in the back of the house in culinary, you will be engaging with our guests because of our hospitality,” said Talent Acquisition Supervisor, Katie Burns. “So it’s a big thing that you have to be comfortable with the public, and you have to want to be there.”
Along with Dollywood and other businesses from around the area, businesses from different states came to the career fair as well.
One of those businesses was the Gwinnett County Police Department from Lawrenceville, Georgia.
“Basically we like to expand our horizons,” Investigator Rodgie Leggett said. “We don’t like to just hire from within our area. Gwinnett County is very diverse, so we stay up and down the east coast, all the way from New York to Miami, going to different job fairs and hopefully bringing that diversity to our county to kind of reflect what we have in our community.”
Leggett said that he had seen freshman and sophomore students throughout the day, and that he enjoyed telling them about the Gwinnett County Police Department.
“I like getting them on the bandwagon early,” Leggett said. “They don’t really know what they want to do. And who knows, maybe two to three years down the road they might run across my card again and give me a call. That’s happened before, and hopefully we can bring them in and make a career out of it.”
Leggett said potential employees have to want to do the job, because it’s not a typical nine to five job.
“I’ve been here ten years,” Leggett said. “I love it. We definitely want people who want to do the job, want to help the community and try to establish something new rather than being cast as a police officer with a badge. We really want to make sure that whoever is coming in and putting on this uniform and this badge is not only representing themselves but the community as a whole.”
Whitley said that the Career Expo impacts students by giving them a glimpse at future careers.
“I feel like a lot of students think, ‘Oh, well I’m not a senior. I’m not about to graduate, so it’s not for me.,'” Whitley said. “Career fairs are for everyone. Whether you want to find out what career path is for you, or an internship, or a part time job – don’t be intimidated.”
