Recruit your STEM Workforce at NAU's Career Fair

Why local businesses should participate in this fall’s NAU Career Fair
by Laura Huenneke
 
Each year the same refrain is heard… hundreds of Northern Arizona University students participate in the university’s Career Fair, and express disappointment at the absence of Flagstaff employers. Seeing so few northern Arizona opportunities, they conclude that their only option is to move to Phoenix, California, Denver, or elsewhere. Here are four reasons YOUR Flagstaff enterprise should take part (alone or in collaboration with other Flagstaff employers) in this fall’s Career Fair, scheduled for Wednesday, October 5th:

• NAU produces thousands of graduates each year with bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees in dozens of fields. If you seek to add up-to-date knowledge to your team, there is almost certainly an NAU program producing people with that background.

• NAU’s commitment to critical thinking, communication skills, and experiential learning in all degree programs means that graduates know how to write and to speak, how to think carefully, and how to work collaboratively. Nearly all programs require an internship, a research project, or some other hands-on experience requiring the student to put their classroom learning into a real-world practical context. NAU graduates are ready to tackle real-world problems, alone or as part of a team.

• Many NAU students come from non-urban regions of Arizona and the western US; they’ve chosen Flagstaff rather than a larger city environment for college in part because of the nature of the community. After living here for two, four, or more years, many have already come to love Flagstaff and want to stay for the long term. You don’t have to convince them to ignore the high price of housing, you don’t have to pay expensive relocation or moving costs, and you don’t have to explain or compensate for the lack of big-city amenities. In other words, it’s a lot easier than trying to recruit from the east or west coasts!

• Finally, NAU uses feedback and information from employers, so that faculty can continue to improve and fine-tune the education and training provided. Interacting with students and prospective employees will give you a better sense of how students are educated, and an opportunity to provide feedback to the faculty teaching and advising those students – meaning that graduates in future years can be even better prepared to contribute to your enterprise.

 
If you are interested in having a table or booth at the career fair, please access the registration form here. Note there are discounts available for local employers that cannot afford the registration fee. Contact Elizabeth Glass (Elizabeth.Glass@nau.edu) in the College of Engineering, Forestry & Natural Sciences if you need a discounted rate. If you are interested in sharing a spot with others from Flagstaff STEM City (especially appropriate if you have only a small number of openings, or if you want the share the time commitment for the afternoon), contact Mindy Bell at STEM City (mindy@flagstaffstemcity.com). We hope to see you in October!