Career Fair Draws Hundreds of Employers and Thousands of Jobseekers

It was a cold and windy Wednesday, but the winter weather didn’t stop the more than 2,200 students and alumni in search of internships, co-ops and full-time jobs from packing the Wellness and Events Center Feb. 13. There, 212 employers were recruiting for a range of positions — and doling out swag — at the Spring 2019 Career Fair, coordinated by NJIT’s Career Development Services.

We spoke with some of the employers, many of them first-timers at NJIT, about the value career fairs hold for their talent pipelines, and how they prepared for the big event.

(Above) Mark Parette ’83, of Parette Somjen Architects, who came to recruit with Baina-Lyssa Jean ’17 (right), said career fairs are invaluable because they give his company the opportunity to meet students on their turf. “I come just to talk with them really, just to have a conversation,” remarked Parette, who was looking for architecture as well as computer science students, in addition to extending his company’s brand on campus. “I remember when I was a student and I came here and I had to prepare. … It’s like an exercise [in interviewing}.”

(Above, from left) Facebook’s McEdward Laguerre, recruiter; John Tsai, software engineer/visiting lecturer; and Maya Israni, software engineer, were recruiting for summer internships in software engineering as well as full-time opportunities in information technology. Understanding student demographics at an institution is key to their effort, but “we also try to make sure that we have strategically partnered with our engineers so that they’re prepared to talk with students about their experiences overall … and inspire them to apply,” Laguerre said.

(Above) For Nicole Palmarozza, a talent acquisition coordinator at Take-Two Interactive Software (seen here with a Take-Two associate), participating in career fairs is “really about connecting with the future of any given sector … [and] about finding that initial pipeline and building relationships with people.” The company has a lot of entry-level/new-graduate positions and internships to fill, so being organized and equipped is vital to successfully doing so. “It’s picking the right people to come on campus. It’s making sure that we’re prepared with information about the opportunities that are going to be of interest to any given student population,” said Palmarozza, who also emphasizes explaining to students how Take-Two can partner with them to “really help them make the most of their careers.”

(Above) “There is so much [more] now than just engineering at this college … it’s amazing,” noted Jeff Winegar (right), who was at the career fair on behalf of T&M Associates, an environmental, engineering and construction management firm. And he should know: Winegar B.S. ’79, M.S. ’86 is a double NJIT alumnus, with degrees in civil and environmental engineering. With T&M expanding, he and his associates attended the fair to “hire the best people for our company. And it’s a good opportunity to keep in touch with the academic world, too, to see what’s going on there. … It’s enriching!”

(Above) Ortho Clinical Diagnostics’ Raj Nyati, a senior information technology (IT) officer, said his company is looking for engineers, particularly those with an interest in the biological sciences and medical devices. It also has positions open in its IT operations. He explained that the company researched the NJIT curriculum as well as where alumni went after graduating and concluded that participating in the career fair would be helpful to its recruitment. The university is “a good place to go, because you can find a lot of IT folks.”