Thursday, September 17, 2015

Washburn offers poor employer selection at career fair

As the semester is well underway, many students expecting to graduate in December are actively seeking jobs. One place professors and career services encourage students to go is the career fair. It was advertised that over 100 employers would be at the fair. What was not advertised is that some of employers are marketing to students with college degrees, but the positions they have available do not really require a college degree.

Some of these employers include Chick-fil-a, Walgreens, Alorica, Dillion's, Sears and Sherwin Williams. It is arguable many management positions may prefer a college degree, but it is not a requirement. Also, there is little room for advancement in local management roles. Another point may be that there are corporate positions available with these companies, which is true. But take note Chick-fil-a is headquartered  in Atlanta, Walgreens and Sears in Illinois, Alorica California, Sherwin Williams in Ohio. However, the recruiters at the career fair are not seeking people for their corporate office, they are seeking people to fill their entry-level, low-paying, local jobs.

Cerner, Garmin, Sprint, Burns and McDonnell skip over Washburn. When career services was inquired about why these large employers would not be at the career fair, their response was low student interest. Career services suggests students interested in opportunities with large Kansas City based companies seek out other career fairs, at other universities.

While the selection of regional employers was poor, some notable Topeka companies were in attendance such as BNSF, Westar, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Payless, Security Benefit, Advisors Excel and Hills. If students are looking to stay local, the Washburn Career Fair is a worthwhile experience. If students want to get out of dodge, they should look into the career fairs offered by Kansas State University, University of Kansas.

17 comments:

  1. Very nice. This flowed really well and had great structure! I didn't see too many issues with it and it is obvious you took your time writing it and critiquing this.

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  2. Dodge is capitalized as it is a town. Either use Kansas State and Kansas or Kansas State University and University of Kansas.

    "Security Benefit, Advisors Excel and Hills."

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  3. I would try to avoid words or phrases that could confuse people. When you say "If students want to get out of dodge..." that could be misleading to people from Kansas because there is a town in Kansas called Dodge. Very well written and this article has good content.

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  4. This topic was very relevant to Washburn students. The lead is strong because it's written from the standpoint of affecting its audience. You need to insert a verb into your headline to make it more appealing to readers. Try "Career fair experiences poor employer selection." Make sure not to capitalize every word: only proper nouns and the first word. I would also alter your phrasing in certain places; sometimes your wording became confusing. In news stories you need short, simple sentences and paragraphs so the reader doesn't get bored.

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  5. This was a great topic choice. Very relevant to Washburn students. It flowed well. The only thing I noticed is that the "a" in Chic-fil-A should be capitalized. Also, instead of "Kansas State", it would be more clear to say "Kansas State University". Otherwise, it could potentially lead some to think you mean the state of Kansas rather than the university. I would also agree that you might want to change the phrase "get out of dodge" to not include the word "dodge" since there is a Kansas town by that name. Other than that, very well done!

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  6. I thought that this was a useful and well written article. I like that you thought through it and offered other career fair options in other places. I too agree that "get out of dodge" should be changed and that other phrases should be clarified. Overall, I enjoyed reading this and it kept my attention.

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  7. The phrase does date back to actual Dodge City https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/get_out_of_Dodge

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  8. I completely agree with your opinion on this matter. Washburn should be bring in companies that will give students great careers after graduating not something that could get without a degree. I thought your post was well written.

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  9. I completely agree with your opinion on this matter. Washburn should be bring in companies that will give students great careers after graduating not something that could get without a degree. I thought your post was well written.

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  10. "If students want to get out of dodge, they should look into the career fairs offered by Kansas State, Unversity of Kansas, and Kansas City Tech Week." I really liked this line. I agree that there should be more companies to these career fairs. But with Washburn being such a small school I don't feel like they would attract a lot of far away companies.

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  11. I thought this article was great and relevant students! Good job!

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  12. Good topic! In the first paragraph fourth line I would put the in front of employers and maybe advertised to no graduates do you mean? In that same line? That's all I have found otherwise good job!

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  13. Great topic, but it is pretty opinionated. But, if you were intentionally making it an opinion piece, it is great. Students who haven't been to the Career Fair could benefit from reading this.

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  14. Great topic, but it is pretty opinionated. But, if you were intentionally making it an opinion piece, it is great. Students who haven't been to the Career Fair could benefit from reading this.

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  15. The only suggestion I would make is to change to and or or between Kansas State University and the University of Kansas at the very end of your article. Other than that, great job! I completely agree with the choices being poor at the Career Fair.

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  16. I think it is a very good topic to write and your headline is good.

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  17. Nice article! But I'm not sure what you meant by "get out of dodge"...?

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