Collectively employers are asking questions throughout the state in an effort to fill workforce gaps. These questions include, “How can I fill positions?” and “How do we access workers?” On April 20, however, different questions were being asked.
“Did you bring your resumes? Did you practice your interview questions?”
In the Champlain Valley Expo Center’s Bissonette Room, Reid Wobby, a volunteer with the Associated General Contractors of Vermont (AGC-VT), asked these two questions to his audience of high school and college students, there to meet prospective employers at the Vermont Career Fair’s second annual event.
While it’s not new news that Vermont has been struggling to fill its workforce gaps, employers are looking for big ways to combat that struggle — like Vermont’s Largest Career Fair.
This year, 15 Career Technical Education (CTE) Centers sent the students to explore opportunities with nearly 130 employers across Vermont, about 50 of whom were new additions from last year. Those numbers, along with members of the general public, ended up with over 1,000 attendees. Some attendees, like Gabe L., were at the fair for the second time. Gabe, a 16-year-old student at the Green Mountain Career and Technology Center, said that at last year’s fair, he “met a lot of cool people and saw a lot of good job opportunities.” Others, in attendance for the first time — like 15-year-old Jordan P. (Central Vermont Career Center), 16-year-old Merrick C. (Danville High School), 18-year-old Parker G. (Bellows Free Academy) and 20-year- old Bella P. (SUNY Plattsburgh) — said that they were here to do the same: to “see what’s out there” and to look for employment possibilities after school.
On the main floor of the Expo Center were booths that ranged from the City of Burlington to Casella Construction to the Green Mountain Habitat for Humanity. For those returning a second time, the fair was a welcome chance to not only meet with prospective employees but, as Kathi Perry of ADA Traffic Control said, to “mingle and network with other employers,” which can be difficult when working from different sectors. Jamey Magowan and Jane Vigneau of City Market Co-op agreed. “The primary reason [we’re here] is to find employees and just as important is to build connections.”
Joe Grabowski and Brandi Jagemann of Upper Valley Services and Vermont Comforts of Home added that the fair also gave them the opportunity to raise awareness about individualized home support options, as well as the ways in which agencies such as theirs can support individuals, their families and their home care providers. And for those who have booths for the first time, the fair allows them to answer questions that job seekers, particularly those in the younger generation, have about their field. Josh Rawlings of Vermont Frames & Foam Laminates pointed to the “aging population of people in woodworking and carpentry” as a motivating factor to have a booth, adding how “encouraging it’s been to meet younger people who are enthusiastic to join the profession” and to learn more about the trade.
Back in the Bissonette Room, Wobby and two Vermont Department of Labor career specialists continued to welcome groups of students, distributing tote bags with booth information and lunch ticket sheets. Before opening the door for them, he looked around the room and said, “Good luck! And remember: everyone here is looking to hire.”
When asked whether they would anticipate coming next year, Jamey Magowan joked, “I’d like to say we’d be fully employed and we wouldn’t have to worry about it,” before quickly adding,
“No, even if we did that, we’d still come.”
Through sheer magnitude, Vermont Career Fair pulled in large-scale networking for employers with other employers in addition to exposure to over 1,000 job seekers. What makes an event like this one so successful is that it not only connects employers with job seekers ready for employment today but with the inclusion of the CTE Centers, strengthens Vermont’s workforce in the future as well.