Best of the Century

Yesterday we held our 26th annual Spring Career Fair. It was the biggest and best of the century! OK, it's a young century, but still...

We had 150 organizations there and the coolest thing ever was having 1,320 people come through the doors. We were very lucky in our marketing, with a nice article in The Plain Dealer, the big daily newspaper in town, and a mention in their calendar just before the event. We had lots of non-Cleveland State people attend, and that was fine. It was open to everyone.

Despite all our careful planning, there are always issues on the day of the event, but I build flexibility into the plan to accomodate them. For instance, one employer complained that they had requested electricity, but they didn't get it. I went back to check and saw that the electricians had indeed laid the extension cords in that row, but they appeared to be for another table. I told her not to worry, that that was her electricity. Someone else needed an extension cord to reach the power, he thought. I went to check and just pulled the cord over a few inches and he was fine. How come otherwise intelligent adults can be so helpless?

We used software that one of our graduates had written specifically for the purpose of managing the career fair registration. It is very cool. It allows people to register on line, and it send out invoices and confirmation letters automatically. I can run reports on any of the data I like. There is a nifty table map of the gym floor that shows where all the companies will be on the big day, and I can change it anyway I like up until the last minute. (To see it, go to www.csucareerfair.com)--Whoops, just tried that link and it doesn't work--hold that thought--I'll check it next week back at work.

Every year there is always one clueless person who has a complaint about the career fair. This year was no exception. The winner was a woman who was upset that the fair "only" ran from 9am to 2pm. She felt it should be longer since, as she said , she "had other things to do than come down here." So why did she come at all, I wondered. We work for three months to put this event together, do all this marketing, emailing, mailing, workshops, coordinating tiny details to produce a pretty darn good show, if I do say so myself. You can't please everyone, but goodness knows I try.

The employers overwhelming loved what we had done, and students were thrilled with all the choices they had that day. They were knocked out by how many companies had showed up.

People always ask two questions: 1) Is it worth to me to come done there? and 2) Do people get jobs from that?

Let's address these issues, shall we? Oh, let's.

1) Is it worth it to come down? Sometimes I want to say, if you have to ask, then don't bother yourself. But I don't. I restrain that impulse and talk to them about what they are looking for and give them strategies to use the fair to their best advantage.

2) Do people get jobs from that? Sure. We know one grad who accepted an offer on the spot. Others find internships that lead to full time jobs. Sometimes people have the impression that employers just come to show their faces, but that they don't really have jobs. In years past, some employers did that just to maintain a presence on campus. Students didn't really appreciate that, though. We charge the companies to attend, so it's an investment of resources and time, so they won't come if they don't see a payoff somewhere.

I stood for all seven hours, from 7am to 2pm, from set up to tear down, so my legs are dead today. You would think I could sleep forever after a day like that, but no, not me. I woke up at 4am and came downstairs and watched some strange movie on TV. I was tempted to check blogs, but I was in no shape to push buttons and keys.

Anyway, everything came off beautifully yesterday, and the staff stepped up all week and all yesterday to do whatever I asked of them, so I was very proud of everyone, and thankful that all our prayers were answered.