The Cuyahoga Valley Career Center (CVCC) is hosting a job fair to provide its students an opportunity to meet various employers. CVCC is partnered with many high schools in Ohio. Students attending CVCC receive hands-on learning experience in fields that range from cosmetology to mechanics. Each year CVCC holds a job fair for its students to meet with local employers and explore possible work opportunities while encouraging students from its liaison schools to participate. CVCC Assistant Principal, Josh Hayes, is responsible for answering questions about the upcoming event because he organizes the schedule and invites companies.
Hayes recently sent out emails to the principals of the schools partnered with CVCC to remind them about the upcoming fair. He views the fair as a way to connect CVCC students with employers and give them experience meeting with possible employers in person.
“I think anyone can fill out an application, but you don’t have the opportunity to really make that eye contact, introduce yourself, or learn about what their passions or interests are. You look like a piece of paper to someone who’s screening applications behind a computer screen, but to meet somebody, talk about the company, talk about what your interests are really gives those applicants a leg up on opportunities to really get employed and grow within those companies,” Hayes said.
These employers are focused on finding younger employees to address their labor needs. Companies show up from many cities across Ohio with hopes of finding a young and energetic student to add to their workforce.
“A lot of the companies here are going to be looking for young and promising folks that maybe want to go off to college and co-op…. Some of them will have positions that involve some degree work from universities…. They’re really excited about the opportunity to work with youth. It’s kind of an untainted pool where they can really help grow that person,” Hayes said.
CVCC Principal Mike Hall is looking forward to the event and understands the impact it can have on his students’ lives.
“It’s a great opportunity for students and even adults to come in, to meet face to face with employers, to be able to fill out applications, to find out first hand from the employers what positions they are hiring for or what jobs entail. Specifically for our students at CVCC, a lot of them are able to make contacts for summer work that a lot of times lead to internships which leads to full-time jobs upon graduation,” he said.
The job fair runs from 2:00-3:00 PM on March 6th and is only for students of CVCC and partnered schools; however, CVCC teaches more than just high school students. Many adults are enrolled at CVCC and they will also have a job fair from 3:00-5:00 PM.
“We like to make sure that (the employers) have many great candidates to look at. Which is one of the reasons I reached out to Mr. Faris to see if maybe we could do some early releases to sponsor some opportunities for high school students to get over here early in the day so that they can be the first ones to the table in front of those employers,” Hayes said.
Senior RHS student, Kyle Yost, is enrolled in the auto body program at CVCC in which students work with real cars donated to the school. He and the other students are excited for the upcoming job fair.
“The job fair offers an opportunity for my classmates to make meaningful connections and maybe find jobs…. Last year’s fair had some certain jobs I thought would be interesting. It’d be cool to talk to the couple of jobs from last year that I had to be 18 to start, so I want to see if there are any part-time opportunities there before I go to college,” Yost said.
The CVCC Job Fair is only for students from schools partnered with CVCC and for adults who are also training there. The youth focused fair runs from 2:00-3:00 PM on March 6th, and the adult session runs from 3:00-5:00 PM; however, youth are still encouraged to attend the adult session.
