Career Fair event expands into BC3 Field House
BUTLER TWP — Sometimes the perfect career opportunity is the one you least expected.
Students from around Butler County and community members got a taste of what is out there in the job market during a Butler County Career Fair event on Wednesday, March 25. It was held in the Field House on Butler County Community College’s main campus.
BC3 organized the fair in partnership with the Butler County Health Care Consortium, Butler Collaborative for Families and Pennsylvania CareerLink.
More than 100 employers attended the event, according to Tricia Pritchard, a BC3 professor and member of the career fair planning committee.
The number of employers has increased since last year’s event, which forced committee members to move the event out of Founders Hall and into the Field House.
“What happened in the past, all the partners about five years ago were putting on their own career fair events,” Pritchard said. “We are all friends and try to support one another. We said we should partner together to host one big event.”
Pritchard said she expected about 200 to 300 students to stop by at some point during the four-hour event, with one group coming from the Butler County Area Professsional-Technical School.
“Our admissions team gave the students a tour of the Victor K. Phillips Nursing and Allied Health Building,” Pritchard said. “They got to listen to people who teach those classes, hear from professionals in the health care industry, then provided them with a lunch; and they will finish their day here at the career fair.”
The career fair also gave job-seekers an opportunity to have a professional resume photo taken, courtesy of freelance photographer Dylann Yarrington.
Yarrington also did the resume photos last year for the career fair and now works for the ELLWOOD Group, a steel fabricator based in Ellwood City, Lawrence County, as a communications specialist.
While taking photos last year at the career fair, Yarrington caught the attention of individuals at the ELLWOOD Group’s booth. The chance event quickly lead to a career opportunity she did not see coming.
“I was trying to sell myself,” Yarrington said. “I ended up talking to a booth right beside ELLWOOD and they overheard me and now I work full time for them.”
Employers from all kinds of industries were in attendance, from finance to manufacturing and health care.
One of the booths hosted Penn United, a Cabot-based company in tool and dye manufacturing, stamping, additive manufacturing and other processes serving a range of industries.
Kristen Bastaja, a corporate recruiter for Penn United, said the company is hiring all kinds of entry level positions, not just on the manufacturing floor, but in other supporting roles as well.
“We have several apprenticeship positions open,” Bastaja said. “There are human resource positions and administrative assistant positions. We are also looking for an experienced electrician right now.”
Bastaja said employees “start in the positive right away” due to the fact apprenticeship programs pay employees to learn on the job and they don’t have to worry about going into student debt to get an education.
“Manufacturing is a fantastic career opportunity,” Bastaja said. “It’s local and you can make a fantastic wage with amazing benefits. The opportunities to learn and grow your career are endless. You are making things that matter as well. It could be something in the medical field or aerospace.”
Kaylee Cavanaugh, who recently finished her General Educational Development test through BC3’s adult literacy program, was visiting booths at the event. The ones that caught her attention were in the manufacturing space.
“I grew up with a father who was constantly building things,” Cavanaugh said. “I think I take after my father a lot and it was something I saw a lot growing up. It has piqued my interest, and to see the love my dad had in it made me love it as well.”
While Cavanaugh knows she wants to get into a field where she works with her hands, she is keeping her options open as she hits the job market. She advises other people to do the same.
“I am very hands-on,” Cavanaugh said. “I love to garden and build things. I am also open to seeing what’s out there because I don’t want to put myself in a certain box. I want to be able to expand my horizons.”
