Soaring to Successful Careers
On September 27th the Office of Career and Professional Development (OCPD) hosted 192 employers at the RAC on the Statesboro campus for a combined Eagle Expo + STEM Career fair. The consolidated career fairs were necessitated by the cancellation of the STEM Career Fair due to Hurricane Idalia in late August. A record 1310 students attended the event which drew rave reviews from students and employers. In a post-event survey, employers rated “Overall Employer Satisfaction” at 9.29 (out of 10) and “Recruitment Expectations Met” at 9.84 (out of 10) – both all-time high ratings. Twenty-six employers remained on campus the following day for follow-up interviews. Shortly after Eagle Expo + STEM, Hyundai Motor Group Metaplant America (HMGMA) held an information session and recruiting event that yielded 34 student interviews for newly posted HMGMA positions in many departments including Human Resources, Procurement, Quality Control, and Software Engineering. Employers are clamoring for Georgia Southern students.
The success of the combined event has prompted the OCPD to redesign its career fair and networking events. Beginning spring 2024 the OCPD will host a Career Showcase week each semester, creating a one week marketplace for employers around the U.S. to engage with Georgia Southern students and alumni in search of internships and full-time career opportunities. Multiple career events will be held during the week including traditional career fairs, college-specific networking events, information sessions, classroom presentations, and on-campus recruiting. In order to reflect the true recruiting target, and to clearly advertise the events to students and employers, the OCPD will rebrand the STEM Career Fair to the Engineering, Construction and Technology Fair. The Eagle Expo All-Majors Career Fair will be relaunched as the Business, Service, and Public Sector Career Fair. The OCPD will continue to hold college-specific career and networking events outside of the Career Showcase week.
These activities and direct employer feedback clearly point to the fact that employers greatly value the “readiness” of our graduates and the impact that they make in the workplace. Georgia Southern’s proposed career readiness QEP seeks to improve on this marketplace reality, and institutional differentiator, by making career readiness a more deliberate and overt part of the academic curriculum at Georgia Southern.
Last updated: 11/6/2023