Energy was buzzing in the Kent Student Center Ballroom the morning of Feb. 2 as students and employers participated in the Construction Management Job Fair hosted by the Kent State Construction Management Student Organization.
Through the organization’s and the university’s local, regional and national connections, more than 70 employers attended the job fair to meet with Kent State students and give them opportunities to explore different areas within construction management.
The student organization has been hosting this job fair once a semester since 2016.
“It's a great opportunity for students to learn, to meet with employers to find internships, to come out of their shell to you know, grow their confidence, and to just network with people in the industry that they'll be working with down the road,” said Aiden Slattery, senior construction management major and member of the Kent State Construction Management Student Organization.
The job fair hosted a varied collection of companies with which students could network.
“A big draw with construction management is the number of companies and the diversity of those companies,” said Jordan Smith, event chair for Kent State Construction Management Student Organization and sophomore construction management major.
Students attending the job fair appreciated being able to see a glimpse of the endless options the industry can offer them.
“I'm a first year, so I'm not necessarily looking for something yet. I'm just kind of wanting to dip my toe in the water and get to explore and talk to every company that's here and just kind of see what's out there,” freshman architecture student Lauren Scott said.
The employers were just as enthusiastic as the students about being at the job fair.
“We realized that we need to get more younger kids, specifically ones that are showing interest in construction,” Don Phillips from Payne and Tompkins Design Renovation said. "We're really trying to get them interested in residential.”
Other companies came to the job fair to get Kent State students to help them expand their business.
“We are a startup company in fiber internet. Our mission is to go to rural areas and underserved cities that don't have a lot of internet options,” Noreen Clemmons from Omni Fiber said. “We were resourcing sub-contractors outside the company to do our jobs. Now, we are starting our own construction team internally. So, we're here to promote that and to try to get some construction feedback and employees.”
The success of the event was due to the teamwork between all parties involved.
“We've had so much help from the college, from career planning, from our own faculty, advisors and coaches. It's really a group effort,” Slattery said. “We kind of all pitch in to do our part and it turned out to be a great day.”