For Clayton State University (CSU), the Career Services Office always held their part-time job fair on the second day of classes during the fall semester. When the COVID-19 pandemic was still a huge concern in June, Bridgette McDonald, Director of Career Services, and Charles Howard, Assistant Director of Career Services, went to the Symplicity support team to discuss what the possibilities might be for hosting their event in a virtual capacity. It was then that they discovered that they would not only be able to still host their August 11th event but that they would be able to utilize the new Virtual Career Fair product as well. “Initially, I was nervous about hosting a virtual career fair because I had never been a part of one but I knew that Symplicity had never failed us in the 12 years we’ve been a client and I knew that I could rely on their support team to provide everything we needed for our event,” McDonald said.
From the beginning of June until August 11th, McDonald and Howard attended training webinars, accessed helpful guides, and met with their client manager, Kwanza, one-on-one in preparation for the virtual career fair. “The information that Kwanza provided to was very helpful and made us feel at ease about the event,” McDonald stated, “We attended all of the training webinars and read through all of the resources that the support team sent but it was great knowing that Symplicity support was going to be there the day of to ensure there weren’t any issues.” As a result of all the preparation and support from the Symplicity team, CSU held a successful virtual career fair that received a lot of positive feedback from both employers and students following the event.
“I would recommend Symplicity CSM to every institution. All of the updates and wonderful aspects of the platform would be beneficial to any career services office. In my opinion, there is no better system—CSM is extremely easy to use and the Symplicity support team has always been phenomenal.”
Bridgette McDonald,
Director of Career Services,
Clayton State University
The Career Services staff members were thrilled that they were able to host their career fair as planned and that it was a positive experience for students and employers alike. “Students really liked the fact that they could upload their resume and we saw a lot of them making use of the live chat and the video chat during the virtual career fair. Students were very pleased with the experience because it was easy for them to log on and simply click on the employers they wanted to meet with,” Howard said, “It was important to us to still be able to provide students with the opportunity to meet with employers and I’m glad we were able to do that rather than canceling the fair altogether. With Virtual Career Fair, we’re still giving them a chance to network with employers and it’s good practice for students to meet with employers virtually and to know what to expect going forward in this new normal.”
While planning for CSU’s career fair, the top priority was student and employer safety. With Symplicity’s Virtual Career Fair, CSU was able to provide safety for everyone involved. “The number one benefit of hosting a virtual career fair is that this virtual format provides a safe space for both employers and students to continue exploring career opportunities,” Howard stated, “Despite the economic situation right now, companies are still hiring. By using Virtual Career Fair, we were very happy to see students walk away with job offers and interviews after the event. We want our students to be safe and we want to continue supporting their career journey.” After experiencing great success with their August fair, CSU’s Career Services staff are excited to continue using Virtual Career Fair for the rest of the fall semester and the spring 2021 semester as well.
For more information about virtual career fairs, email info@symplicity.com or schedule a conversation.
