Diversity Career Fair Attracts Employers, Students

Conversations about potential employment filled the Wisconsin Room at UW-Milwaukee between employers and potential employees at the Diversity Career Fair Thursday morning to late afternoon.

Hair: clean cut. Dress code: on point. Attitude: confident and full of initiative. Vanaro Thorn is a senior at DePaul University in Chicago and sophomore at UWM. He is father of a 4-year-old who travel between the two campuses. He was one of the potential employees to attend the Diversity Career Fair at UWM.

Thorn heard about the career fair on the day it happened. He did not come prepare, but he was ready to network and seek potential employment.

“Dress up, get a haircut,” Thorn said. “Sometimes you don’t have any skills or experience, but it goes very, very far. Once I got an interview for a software engineering job for dressing up.”

Seventy-four different employer recruitment tables were set up to attract an expected 300 potential employees at the Diversity Career Fair co-sponsored by the Multi-Cultural Centers and Career Planning & Resource Center.

“We expected students, alumni and people of the community to attend this event,” said Olivia Cross, Employer Relation Specialist at UWM, who helped coordinate the event. “It’s a very good opportunity for individuals to showcase the diverse aspects of their personalities, identities and academic.” 

Cross said that, at the Diversity Career Fair, students get to connect with employers from different industries. The career fair allowed students to network with employers and build relationships that can lead to employment.

Tahis Santiago, junior at UWM, is currently employed, but she attended the career fair to network and looked out for more career opportunities. She saw the employer directory and printed her resume for the fields she was interested in.

“Have a resume in hand,” said Santiago. “Don’t wait for them to talk to you, go and talk with them first. It shows motivation and initiative.”

Employers at the career fair ranged from nonprofits to government agencies.  

Olusengun Osayemi, Civic Engagement Team Leader of City Year Milwaukee, said his non-profit organization focuses on helping students and teachers with education and planning. They help mentor, tutor and help students develop emotionally in Milwaukee. City Year Milwaukee will hire anyone from high school graduate to college graduate.

“City Year has a bi-weekly stipend for their employees,” said Osayemi. “At the end of the service year, they get a $6,000 grant that goes toward student loans and school expanses.”

Bell Ambulance had two recruiters at their table who were ready to recruit students for full-time and part-time jobs.

Bell Ambulance Cadet Program Lead Aubin Muszytowski said they welcome anyone to work for their Emergency Medical Service company. Milwaukee is a diverse city, and they want a diverse work workforce. Students who are interested in any field can work for them. The schedule is very flexible because they operate 24/7.

“A lot of people we hired for the program, we try to get them excited for a career in medicine, nursing, PA schools and any route they want to take,” said Muszytowski. “This is a good place to start.”

Recruitment Coordinator Kassidy Pollasch and Bethany Rennock from Northwestern Mutual are looking for financial advisors and summer interns. People in finance, business, and marketing fields will have an advantage, but it is not required.

“One in four interns stay to work for Northwestern Mutual,” said Pollasch. “The internship program gives opportunity for students to job shadow senior employees to help them understand the job.”

Skygen USA is hiring summer interns for software development, automation and data analysis, said Skygen USA Human Resource and Recruiter Nena Yang.

“We want to hire students who are excited to learn and show initiative,” Yang said. “We don’t expect you to know everything. It’s an opportunity for students to know what we do.”

Yang said that Skygen USA is a casual workspace. Candidates coming in for interviews are not expected to dress in suits and ties.

“We them to be comfortable and be themselves at the interview,” Yang said. “It is already nerve wrecking enough to come to an interview.”

Jalen Phillips, a sophomore student veteran who majors in film at UWM, was in his t-shirt and jeans when he heard about the career fair in the veteran office at UWM. He took the opportunity to attend the event to broaden his network.

“I have been to military career fair,” Phillips said. “As you transition out of the military, they have you start to network and build a network. I wasn’t prepared for this career fair. I didn’t print any resume, but I am ready to talk. I have my business card.”