UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — In its first year, the #MegaFair career fair, held in late September at The Nittany Lion Inn, attracted 969 students in five hours.
Coordinated by the Penn State Smeal College of Business Office of Career and Corporate Connections, #MegaFair was developed to allow more employers to attend and reduce their necessary trips to campus. Students had access to more employers in one place and had more time in the semester to prepare for the event.
“This year, we wanted to make attending career fairs easier on our students, employers, faculty, and staff. By instituting #MegaFair, we were able to attract new recruiters to Penn State to increase the breadth of options for Smeal students without increasing the number of events for them to attend,” said Ashley Rippey, director of Career and Corporate Connections.
“In essence, we were able to more efficiently deliver guidance to our students and customer service to our corporate partners without breaking the bank or exhausting human resources.”
Students were able to talk to 207 recruiters from the 72 companies that attended. Eighteen companies hosted interviews on Wednesday as a result of connections made on Tuesday.
“It is a good idea. We deal with marketing majors and finance majors. We’re really looking for people with great leadership skills,” said Jeannine Bedford, a Kohl’s store manager from Wilmington, Delaware, who has been recruiting for seven years.
“We’ve found that the students who come from Penn State are well prepared to take on management roles at Kohl’s. We’re looking for people who have a passion for leadership.”
Kiera Craig, a program manager from Textron who supports the company’s rotational program for human resources and integrated supply chain, said the reduction in travel was appealing to her.
“I do like that there are fewer trips required. Having this one and the major one at the BJC (Bryce Jordan Center) at different times helps, too, because we used to miss some people,” she said.
Sophomore finance major Madison Bell said she thought #MegaFair was well suited to accommodate more Smeal students.
“I think it’s a way better experience,” Bell said. “Everyone here is looking for people with business majors.”
#MegaFair was the final career fair of the fall for Smeal students. The three-day Supply Chain Career Fair, the Corporate Partners Career Fair, and the Actuarial Science Career Fair were held earlier in the semester in the Business Building Atrium. Smeal students could also take advantage of the three-day Penn State Fall Career Days at the Bryce Jordan Center.