Liberty Moves Career Fair Online, Helping Students Find Post-Graduation Jobs

Liberty’s  Career Services provides students and alumni ways to fulfill their pursuit of jobs and internships through an in-person and virtual Career Fair. 

An in-person fair took place on Tuesday, Oct. 13. A virtual career fair through Handshake is planned for Friday, Oct. 23.  Handshake is Liberty’s platform to connect students and alumni with jobs, recruiters, employers, and is where they can schedule appointments with career coaches and register for workshops and career fairs.

Due to coronavirus restrictions on capacity and social distancing guidelines, the in-person event had  23 employers present. According to Matt Young, the assistant director of Employer Relations, the virtual fair will be much larger. Some employers will participate in both events, but the majority of employers are doing the virtual event only.

“We currently have 46 employers registered for the virtual fair, whereas there were 23 at the on-campus fair,” he said. “So, it’s definitely a great opportunity for students to connect with a lot more employers and a bit more diverse set of employers.” 

Students must register for the virtual fair then sign up for group sessions with employers or shorter, one-on-one meetings to talk to potential employers individually. 

“The Group Sessions are kind of like an information session, where the employer has an opportunity to go more in depth into who they are, the roles they are hiring for, what their ideal candidates are and give the students a little bit of a deeper context into who they are and what they’re looking for,” Young said. “Whereas the on-on-one Sessions are more traditional quick conversations with a recruiter like you might experience at a table at an in-person fair.” 

All sessions will be conducted over video chat, which is housed in Handshake. 

The on-campus career fair featured different industries, which represented opportunities for all areas of study. Chick-fil-A, Thrivent and various government and public services organizations were just a few of the companies there talking to students and networking. Due to the increased number of employers choosing the virtual route, there will be more industries represented at the online fair, Young said.  

“There’s still a lot of business, government, some non-profits, a couple of ministries, some communications, some behavioral science [and] some digital media,” he said. “The thing that students should be aware of too is to not just be focused on the industry of an employer, but to actually look at what roles they’re hiring for.”

All students, regardless of what year they are in or what they are studying, should consider attending a fair, Young said. 

“One, it exposes you to the employers that are out there and hiring Liberty students,” he said. “It exposes you to the different roles that are available out in the industry, which broadens your horizon and scope of interest. … Hopefully, it will highlight some opportunities that [you] hadn’t thought of before.”

At last Tuesday’s in-person career fair, held in the LaHaye Multipurpose Center in Green Hall, students walked through the physically distanced aisles, talking to employers and recruiters, often picking up business cards and booklets along the way. Students also had the chance to get a professional headshot taken, a service Career Services provides for all students at all their career fairs.

Sarah Garner, a senior studying Social Media Management, came to the fair with expectations to find an internship but also opportunities to connect. 

“This is my first one that I’ve done through Liberty, so I’m really excited to see what they have to offer, and just to plan out the rest of my career, and my internship specifically,” she said. “I just want to make connections, see any possible jobs or internships in the future, but really just start talking to people and get my name out there.”

Jordan Smith is a News Reporter.