By Heidi Sanders
Reporter
The Technology Program at Green River College recently hosted its second annual IT Recruiting and Professional Networking event to wide acclaim.
The event provided students and local job seekers with the opportunity to visit Green River’s conveniently-located Kent Station campus and meet hiring representatives from leading technology companies across the Puget Sound.
More than 200 attendees turned out including graduates from Green River’s applied baccalaureate programs in Software Development and Network Administration & Security, IT students from neighboring colleges and universities, as well as experienced IT job seekers from the Seattle-Tacoma region.
High turnout was largely attributed to a lineup of 17 private and public sector employers who were on hand to promote technical internship and full-time job opportunities within their respective organizations.
Students and job seekers praised the event for its tech focus and for providing a space to meet talent professionals from direct-hire companies and technology staffing agencies alike.
“IT Recruiting and Professional Networking allowed me to connect with recruiters from a variety of companies and firms,” said Corey Johnson, Green River Software Development graduate. “As a result of attending, I landed an interview for a web developer position with one of the employers I spoke to at the event. Representatives from other companies I spoke to who didn’t have a role that fit my areas of interest were still very willing to give me resume tips and tricks on how to get more results on future job applications.”
“This was one of the best career fairs I’ve ever attended,” added attendee Paul Noll. “The focused nature of the fair on one career area (technology) was a great idea and limiting attendance by having attendees register beforehand on Eventbrite also worked well to guarantee access to employers’ representatives.”
Unlike other college career fairs which often charge an admission fee to participating employers, Green River’s IT Recruiting and Professional Networking was free of charge to employers, students, and job seekers. This was possible due to strategic partnership with the King County Business Services Team, which co-organized and promoted the event to job seekers within the WorkSource system, and also offered personnel to assist with day-of logistics.
On behalf of the Technology Program at Green River College, the King County Business Services Team, students and job seekers, a warm thank you goes out to the following employers whose participation made the event a success: Alaska Airlines; Altasource Group; Beyondsoft; Collabera; CompuCom; Costco; Department of Licensing; Expeditors International; General Services Administration; Group Health; Robert Half Technology; Sysgain; TEKSystems; Viri Technology; WatchGuard Technologies; WideNet Consulting; and Zonar Systems.
