Career fair offers jobs

The School of Communication & Creative Arts students gathered in the back hallway of the Reber Thomas Dining Hall Oct. 29 as they networked with potential employers at the communication job fair.

Businesses from all over the Lynchburg area talked with students, accepted résumés and even did on the spot interviews.

“We had over 200 students signed up to attend today,” Career Center Director Richard Glass said. “This event is one of two communication career fairs we do throughout the school year. We will have another again in the spring.”

Glass said businesses love coming to Liberty to look for interns or employees in any area of study.

“There are three things that I keep hearing from employers when they come here,” Glass said. “That our students are prepared, professional and polished. A lot of students get on the spot job offers.”

Glass said career fairs, like this one, help students reach out to employers with the support of their school.

“At Liberty, we try to build relationships with companies all over the country,” Glass said. “Then we invite these companies to come to our campus and recruit. That way, it’s easier for our students to build relationships and find a job without having to go out themselves and try to network.”

According to Glass, Liberty is a primary source of interns for several organizations.

“Second Baptist Church in Houston has spots for 17 interns every year,” Glass said. “They came to Liberty to look for interns, and they ended up filling up all their spots and then offered more positions just to Liberty students.”

Katelyn Shutt, the human resource assistant from the News & Advance, said she was impressed with the turnout.

“I’m so surprised by the amount of graphic designers I had stop by our table,” Shutt said. “It’s really hard to find good graphic designers.”

According to Shutt, the publication, which is a daily newspaper designed for Lynchburg and the surrounding areas, looks for students who are interested in journalism, advertising and graphic design.

“We come to Liberty to look for students because we feel like they’re always coming to the table with new ideas,” Shutt said. “We were also here for the business fair because we were looking for students to work for our sales team.”

Adam Miller of Hello Studios, a motion graphics company based in Lynchburg, said his company comes to Liberty to look for students because of the strong sense of Christian values Liberty teaches.

“I graduated from Liberty, so I know that most students that graduate from here have a good moral sense,” Miller said. “I like the parallel between the Christian lifestyle and how to be professional in the workplace. When I hire someone from Liberty, I know that there’s not going to be shenanigans in the studio.”

Jana Duckett and Angela Guzman, who represented Beliefnet, an inspirational website, said they were also impressed with the students at Liberty.

“We have so many students who are graduating in 2015,” Duckett said. “We would love to see students who are graduating now to work for us.”