By Elizabeth Cichowski, Allyson Haefke, & Jaclyn DeMeuse
The job fair at the University of Wisconsin – Green Bay has been brought back to “in-person” after a year of being entirely virtual. Students have the chance to speak to different university departments’ heads in person again this year.
The University of Wisconsin – Green Bay (UWGB) is looking for student employment this Summer and Fall. They hosted a job fair in the University Union, April 14th, from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. This event was a way for students to explore their options with job opportunities on campus and see if any of the jobs interested them. Some of the different departments hiring are UREC, the Cofrin Library, the Bursar Office, and Admissions, plus many more. This year there were ten booths available with information on various positions on the UWGB campus. Each department booth had a spokesperson willing to talk to potential new hires and hand out flyers describing the open positions and job duties.
On-Campus Student Job Fair: U-Rec Information Table. Photo Credit: Allyson Haefke
The On-Campus Student Job Fair was the first spring job fair held by the UWGB Employment Office. According to Stephanie Kaponya, Program Coordinator of Student Life, “The Employment Office puts out a job fair in Fall to help offices that have open positions, however for many of us, that is too late. A huge opportunity to hire comes from the New Student Resource Fair. However, with COVID-19, we were not able to meet with students last year and probably not again this year.” Having a job fair in Spring instead of Fall can give Student Life and other UWGB organizations more time to find students to hire for Summer and Fall semesters.
The On-Campus Student Job Fair Booths, Socially Distanced, in the Phoenix Rooms. Photo Credit: Jaclyn DeMeuse
For safety purposes, the job fair needed to follow the University’s guidelines on interacting among students. These safety measures included students and staff practicing social distancing, remaining six feet away from others, and setting hand sanitizer stations all over the event. There were personal hand sanitizers for students to take as well. Another factor they had students who attended scan their student IDs if someone at the event got COVID-19. They can reach out to students and let them know that they may have come in contact with someone with COVID-19. Stephanie Kaponya said that “There are always safety concerns, for that is the world we live in now, and we never want to put anyone in danger.” With these new precautions, the goal is to preserve student and staff health while providing students with occupations and UWGB with the staff they need.