Last week the Greater Mount Airy Chamber of Commerce held one of many job fairs it’s put on over the years. Except, this one was a little different — it was specially set aside for area high school and college students looking for both short-term and long-term employment.
“We’ve done job fairs before, but this is a first for the chamber of commerce to partner with the school systems on it,” said Surry County Schools Superintendent Travis Reeves while stand at the entrance to Veteran’s Park, where the event was held on Monday. “It’s encouraging to me to see young students getting the opportunity to connect with local businesses.”
Job fairs are held with the goal of making both the hiring process easier for employers, and the job-seeking process easier for potential workers. Each business involved in a job fair sends a group of representatives to speak on their behalf, being easily accessible to any job-seekers attending the event.
With many area businesses pressed to find employees and fill positions, 38 hopeful businesses participated in the student job fair. One business even managed to hire an employee on the spot.
“A student heard about our program through the welding program at Surry, and he specifically came up here to get a job with us,” said Tampco HR & Safety Director Emily Cave. “I think the job fair is wonderful. It’s great for us to be able to see these students one-on-one, and it’s good for them to speak with people and shake people’s hands.”
“I hope the job fair inspires somebody to seek out a career they didn’t know they were interested in. With every job you have, you’ll learn more and more. For people who aren’t working a job, this is an opportunity to show that you want it,” said Shelton Vineyard’s Travis Dale.
Lasting four hours, the event was attended by students from every high school in the area, with Mount Airy High School bringing in the most students. Not only limited to high school students, the job fair also hosted students from colleges including UNC Charlotte, Catawba, Western Carolina and area community colleges such as Surry.
”It seemed like a good opportunity, I’m looking for a summer job, something with mechanical engineering. It’s been a really good day, there’s lots of good companies, and I have learned a lot more than I thought I would,” said one Surry Community College student about the job fair.
”We were very pleased with the event. We had more vendors than we thought we would, and we had about 120 students show up. You would always like to have more job-seekers and more students, but overall we thought it was a success,” said Chamber President Randy Collins.
The chamber plans to hold a second student job fair some time in 2022. In the meantime, the chamber will host another job fair this summer open to anyone who wishes to attend, adults and students alike.
Looking for work and missed the job fair? Contact Randy Collins at randy@mtairyncchamber.org with a resume and any other relevant information, and he will gladly distribute it to the various vendors who were present at the event.
Source: https://www.mtairynews.com
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