On Feb. 19, BW Career Services will host its 2019 Career and Internship Expo in the Lou Higgins Recreation Center, where students, alumni, and employees alike will gather together to present opportunities in the workplace.

Open from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., the gymnasium will be bustling with students, alumni, and employers from the Northeastern Ohio area and beyond. Katie Flanigan, a career advisor at Career Services, said the expo houses roughly 300 students each year and, while students are not required to bring anything, Career Services is advising them to bring along multiple copies of their resume in case any employers take special interest in them.
Flanigan plays an integral role in the facilitation of the expo and believes that it is very beneficial to students and helps them sharpen their interviewing skills.
“The expo,” she said, “is a really great way for students to practice face-to-face contact. Having a more personal connection with an employer is always a plus.”
She adds that there is something for everyone and her hopes are that no student will feel left out. “We try to split the employers coming into different sectors of sorts,” said Flanigan, “and those groups represent different skill sets students might have. That way, not only will science majors find opportunities, but more creative majors will too.”
Companies represented at the expo will be local as well as national enterprises, including government jobs.
The employers that attend the expo also get the added benefit of branding their companies to groups of students.
When asked about the extent to which the expo helps college seniors, Flanigan said, “this is a great opportunity.”
“The hiring process for most companies takes about three months,” she said, “and peak hiring season is in the early spring. Having this career expo in February gives students a great advantage in that the expo is right before that busy hiring season.”
Also at the expo, there will be a chance to have a headshot taken for LinkedIn.
Students across campus appear to be taking interest in the expo, seeing it as an opportunity that’s hard to pass up.
Emma Lober, a sophomore English major, says that the expo could be especially helpful for students who are not sure what they want to do later in life.
“I think this expo could be really helpful for students,” she said, “especially liberal arts majors who don’t have a clear path carved out for them. A lot of people I know don’t know which direction to take, or where to even start looking. I think the expo could really help out with that.”
Career Services will also be having a “prepare fair” on Feb. 14 as a way to help students polish their resumes and prepare introductions in anticipation for the expo.
Info tables will also be set up in Telfer Hall on Feb. 5, and in Lou Higgins on Feb. 11 and 12.
Students can register for the expo through Handshake and admission is free. Walk-ins are also allowed. For more information, or for questions about future events, visit the Career Services website at www.bw.edu/career or make an appointment with one of the career advisors.