NJIT's Fall Career Fair Becomes a Fully Online Experience
The handshakes will be virtual at this fall’s career fair at NJIT.
In fact, the entire fair will take place online via Handshake, the career networking platform that the university uses to match employers with students seeking jobs, internships and co-operative education opportunities.
More than 115 companies, government agencies and nonprofits are participating in the fair, which will take place Sept. 25 from 11:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Among the participants are Facebook, Colgate-Palmolive, Merck, CenturyLink, the FBI, General Dynamics, Turner Construction, the New York State Department of Transportation, Reckitt Benckiser, Infosys, the Naval Air Systems Command and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
Amid the global pandemic, Handshake this year added video conferencing, enabling employers to interview candidates online. So, with NJIT already using Handshake to introduce students to employers via personal profiles and job listings, the platform now takes them throughout the hiring process — without a single mask required.
While in-person interaction is lost, each candidate gets the undivided attention of an employer representative for 10 minutes, In addition, employers are offering 30-minute informational sessions for groups up to 50. For both, students need to sign up in advance on Handshake.
Longtime participant Crestron Electronics is returning, as it seeks to fill 65 internships and 10 co-ops at three offices, including its headquarters in Rockleigh, N.J. Creston, a manufacturer of advanced control and automation systems, recruits from dozens of colleges each year and likes NJIT in particular because of its diverse and “very driven” student body, said Chris Fitzpatrick, the company’s university relations manager.
“You get a lot of students who are first-generation college students and have a tremendous work ethic,” Fitzpatrick explained.
More than a dozen sectors will be represented at the fair, chief among them construction, civil engineering and internet and software services, according to the Handshake employers page. Collectively, employers are offering hundreds of jobs, internships and co-ops. And while their interview space has changed, what they’re looking for has not. They still crave the innovative, industrious and articulate individuals that NJIT cultivates.
The Sept. 25 fair — sponsored by ADP, Cigna, Covanta, Crestron, E-J Electric, Optum, Tata Consultancy Services, Turner Construction and Weeks Marine — is among several virtual recruiting events that Career Development Services is planning throughout the academic year, according to Patrick Young, associate director, employer relations in Career Development Services. Such events are popular: last year’s two fairs at the Wellness and Events Center drew 4,990 students.
The immediate payoff of an internship or co-op is great, but there are long-term benefits as well. A double-digit percentage of graduates from the Class of 2019 traced their full-time jobs back to career fair — making it one of their top sources of employment. Also, at companies like Crestron, the benefit is mutual. Nearly 60 of its employees are NJIT alumni, including Sameh Sabet ‘98 ‘99 ‘06, vice president of engineering and managing director of its Plano, Texas office. He also teaches graduate-level courses in computer science as an adjunct professor at NJIT.
Openings for individual interviews or group sessions are limited and again, must be scheduled in advance. To sign up, please click here.
