This February, South students are teaming up with Neil Johnson to organize the 2019 Matchmaker Career Fair. This event will be held at the Broadway Commons on the Feb. 20. It is being held to further benefit not only the people of the Salem-Keizer district, but local businesses as well. The career fair provides an opportunity for adults to find potential jobs and for students to volunteer in a community event.
The aim of the event is to provide a professional environment where job seekers and employers can interact.
“Ideally we want to get people to find the kind of job that suits them, that they enjoy. We want to see people being hired, for businesses to find quality individuals, and for 300 hundred attendants. That is the goal,” Johnson, business services consultant, said.
The attendants will be provided with food and beverages as well as professional clothing if needed.
For the Matchmaker Career Fair to be possible, the career fair committee needed an objective to conduct this event. While the unemployment rate in Salem is low, the committee discovered that businesses have been faced with the problem of finding high-quality employees. Based on this information Johnson decided to host the job fair in hope of fulfilling the needed positions within businesses and companies. It is giving adults and veterans a chance of local employment within the community.
The career fair is intended for adults 18 and over, however, student volunteers will be provided a chance to demonstrate their leadership qualities to 35 businesses. Some of these businesses include Salem Health, Spirit Mountain Casino, and Salem Keizer School District.
“From truck driving to health care, being able to interact with those employers is a really good networking opportunity for students. For example, a student might be able to schedule a time for an informational interview for job shadow, ” Johnson said.
Johnson is looking for devoted student volunteers. Since the career fair is held on Wednesday, students are required to miss a day of school to participate in the event. By making this obligation, the students must fulfill the responsibilities of assigned tasks including distributing clothes, food, and drinks to attendees.
One of these volunteers is Tyani Aguiar ’20. For the career fair she is a student coordinator. This means that it is her job to help make sure that the event runs smoothly.
“I have to attend meetings during school days. In this I have to speak with adult representatives and sponsors of the event. We discuss how we can better the event, how we could improve and as the coordinator, I have to make sure that everything runs smoothly on South’s end,” Aguiar said.
Ultimately, the Matchmaker career fair is an occasion that provides a great opportunity for adults in Salem to find a job and for students to ultimately give back to the community.
