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YSU alumni, students at ’09 Job Expo
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LOOKING FOR A JOB: Cory Rider, right, of Newton Falls, a junior at Youngstown State University, talks with Christopher Taylor with the Detroit office of the federal Drug Enforcement Administration about a career in law enforcement during the 2009 Job Expo at the university.
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JOB FAIR: YSU Students and alumni turned out Wednesday for the Expo. Despite the status of the local economy, recruiters from nearly 70 companies representing a wide variety of employment opportunities participated in the event, arranged by YSU’s Career and Counseling Services.
By Harold Gwin
YOUNGSTOWN — At first glance around Youngstown State University’s Chestnut Room in Kilcawley Center on Wednesday, one might think the local economy is booming.
The room was nearly overflowing with companies with jobs to offer as 67 potential employers showed up to take part in YSU’s fall 2009 Job Expo arranged by the university’s Career and Counseling Services.
But talking to some of the job seekers visiting the Expo showed the off-campus economic picture isn’t so rosy.
A number of them are YSU alumni, some seeking employment in their chosen field and some seeking better jobs.
Bob Kotel of Canton was one of them.
He graduated from YSU in 2007 with a mechanical-engineering degree and got a job. But he got laid off Sept. 4, and the Job Expo came at a good time for him. Kotel said he found a couple of companies that are hiring in his field.
Susan Tanner of Campbell was another.
She earned an art degree from YSU in 1999 and later earned an accounting degree through the University of Phoenix. Now, she’s back at YSU taking some additional accounting courses.
Tanner said she’s working as a bank teller right now but wants a job in accounting. She visited a number of CPA firm booths but found most were just looking to hire interns for next year.
“I got a lot of information from everybody on things I should try to do,” she said, adding that the trip was worthwhile.
Some students were also looking for work.
Richard Gromley of North Lima, a nontraditional student at 34, expects to complete his criminal- justice degree next summer. He visited the Expo with his wife, Kathleen, and 8-month-old son, Connor, who rode around the room in a stroller.
Gromley was working at a company in Grove City, Pa., but recently got laid off. Right now, he and his family are surviving on unemployment benefits and “whatever assistance we can get,” he said.
He got a lot of useful information from a number of criminal-justice organizations at the Expo and said he was directed to various Web sites to find job applications in his field.
“The economy is so bad, it’s nice they’re putting this on,” said Diane Durochia of Poland, a senior business-management major who plans to graduate in December.
She said she found a lot of businesses that were looking for applicants.
The Expo is designed for current and former YSU students, but no one wanting to participate is turned away, said Susan George, administrative assistant in the Career and Counseling Services office.
One visitor who fit that category is Fred Oyler of Springfield Township, who said he heard about the Expo from a YSU alumnus.
“I’m in the job-search mode,” he said, explaining that he was laid off recently from from his job as a supervisor in a warehouse-distribution operation, a post he held for nearly 30 years.
Oyler, 54, said he has two children at home and said he’d like to find a job similar to the one he had.
“But, I’m open to change,” he said, adding that, if something doesn’t develop soon, he may go back to school and plan a career change.
Oyler said he got to hand out some r sum s to companies at the Expo and will be checking a number of Websites suggested to him by potential employers.
Gary Boley, director of Career and Counseling Services, said traditional blue-collar jobs in the area may be disappearing but more global, information and service-oriented jobs are growing.
“What you see here is that transformation,” he said, glancing around the Chestnut Room, referring to the types of companies participating in Job Expo.
There were some manufacturing companies, most looking for engineers, and a wide array of service providers ranging from the medical field to retail companies, insurance companies, accounting firms and others. There were also a number of communications and information-technology participants.
A requirement of every participating company is that they must have some jobs to offer, whether it be full-time employment or something along the lines of an internship, George said.
gwin@vindy.com