UW-Platteville’s Career and Professional Development Office hosted the 2022 Spring Career Fair on Feb. 8 and 9, and conducted the Virtual Career Fair on Feb. 14. The Virtual Career Fair was available through both Handshake and Zoom so that students were able to access career opportunities from a large pool of employers.

The in-person Spring Career Fair contained two major-focused sessions for each day.

On Feb. 8, the Engineering, Construction, Computer Science, Industrial Technology and Sciences fair occurred in the morning. The Accounting, Agriculture, Business, Education, Life Sciences and Liberal Arts fair was held in the afternoon.

For Feb. 9, the fairs switched their time frames so that the Accounting, Agriculture, Business, Education, Life Sciences and Liberal Arts took place in the morning instead.

Finally, the Virtual Career Fair on Feb. 14, an all-virtual option, was offered for more employers and included follow-ups and further sessions.

In total, 342 employers attended the in-person Spring Career Fair and the Virtual Career Fair.

Trapper Mitchell, director of the Career and Professional Development Office, commented on the reception of the fairs, “While the formal feedback survey is open through this week, what we have heard from employers both at the event and in follow-up emails is that everyone seems to be happy having an in-person option again … We also heard from employers that appreciated having a virtual option so they could still engage with our students and still be in compliance with their COVID-19 policies.” Mitchell continued, “Employers shared they had great conversations with many students and took in several resumes and several students thanked us for the event as they were leaving. They had run out of resumes to give to employers. Many had interviews scheduled for the following days.”

The career fair successfully promoted professional connections between hundreds of employers and students. The flexibility of the schedules made available for the students’ usage helped shape potential futures for students.