Career fair grows as hiring picks up

  Tuesday, February 10, 2015 2:00 AM
  News

Pittsburg, KS

In the past quarter, U.S. employers have created more than a million jobs and last Friday, the Labor Department reported a gain of 257,000 jobs in January, alone. Pittsburg State University students were hoping to add to those statistics at the PSU Office of Career Services Spring Career Fair on Tuesday.

PSU Career Services Director Mindy Cloninger said at least 106 companies and agencies signed up for Tuesday’s event.

Mike Jackman, the human resource manager for Peerless Products, Inc., of Fort Scott, said he was at the fair in hopes of building a stronger relationship with Pitt State and attracting more of its graduates.

“We’re a growing company,” Jackman said. “We’re looking for engineers, sales people and project managers.”

The career fair is typically held in the Overman Student Center, but because of construction in that building, it was moved to the Student Recreation Center.

Cloninger said one side benefit of moving to the SRC this year is that it allowed her office to accommodate every company and agency that wished to part of the career fair. The space previously available in the student center was not big enough to accommodate such a large number of employers.

“It’s so great not to turn anyone away!” Cloninger said.

She said she expects the spring career fair to return to the Overman Student Center next year because expansion and renovation will significantly increase the space available for future career fairs.