Interview with Corey Feraldi about the Career Fair
The annual career fair at USC Aiken is being held Feb. 22 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Student Activities Center (SAC) Gym.
Career Services started planning the fair during the fall semester. During the planning period, invitations were sent to employers from their database, partners and any organizations interested in recruiting USC Aiken students for anything from internships to full-time work.
Career Services Director Corey Feraldi has been hosting the event for over 27 years.
“We start to do some general things. Then, once the semester starts in the spring then we’re really kind of ramping up with putting advertisements together, doing maps, sending out information to students. All the things that go into the event,” said Feraldi.
Career Services takes into consideration advertising and marketing when examining what they could do differently from previous years. Feraldi said they would be releasing videos on social media to help market the fair this year.
“Instagram and Facebook are the two that we utilize the most. For our alumni, cause we do advertise it to them as well, we have a LinkedIn alumni group that we send out to,” said Feraldi.
Challenging aspects Career Services encounter every year when planning the fair are communicating to students how beneficial the career fair is and finding organizations that relate to every degree and career direction.
“We know there is a tremendous amount of positives and benefits that can relate to making a connection with an employer. Finding out what types of careers employers have, getting internships, part-time jobs. For those who are graduating, full-time jobs…Just understanding kinda some of the world of work and what organizations do. We know all those benefits, but students who are very focused on a semester and classes getting them to understand that this is a benefit and to take that opportunity.”
An important aspect of encouraging students to attend the fair is establishing communication with the faculty. They communicate to faculty the benefits of the fair, who’s coming and contact specific departments from which organizations are interested in recruiting students.
Feraldi is interested in having organizations return to campus following the career fair and potentially conducting direct interviews for positions.
“It’s hard in a fair for them to do much and a lot of times they’ll set up stuff with students afterwards,” said Feraldi.
A large part of a student’s college education is thinking about experiences and establishing a network of connections to plan for life after graduation. Feraldi advises students planning to attend the career fair to take a look at the list of companies in attendance and review their open positions.
There will be over 70 organizations at the career fair. A few of the organizations include:
Savannah River Mission Completion
Savannah River Nuclear Solutions, LLC
SRP Federal Credit Union
The list of employers, as well as graduate schools, can be found on the USC Aiken website
