The floor was buzzing with conversation at the Bend XPO Center as the annual Career Expo took center stage yet again.
The job fair is a chance for students to find their first job, find new opportunities, and explore what career awaits them. For employers, it’s a chance to land the perfect candidate.
For students like Link Foster of Clinton Community College, it’s all about long term goals.
“The thing that I’m hoping most to get out of this experience is to hopefully one day, maybe open up my own restaurant,” says Foster. “Food has been a very important part of the culture, especially of the US, for like pretty much as long as the US has existed. And so, you know, having good places to eat, where different cultures can come together is very important to me.”
Regardless of what they’re looking for, employers strongly urge students to take advantage of opportunities and do their homework.
Employer Brooke Keck advises students to dip their feet in the water and get comfortable with team meetings.
“Go through the whole process of getting to know the company,” says Keck. “And if you get invited to interview, interview so that you can really decide based off of all the information that you’re able to learn and gain from meeting the teams. Learning about the role so that you can make a decision based really on, hey, where am I going to be able to to start and continue to grow long term?”
