Companies, federal agencies looking for talent and diversity at Career Fair, Oct. 17
The RIT/NTID Career Fair will be held Oct. 17 and features opportunities for deaf and hard-of-hearing students to interview for co-ops or full-time positions with some of the country’s leading companies including Microsoft, Apple and IBM.
Representatives from more than 50 local and national corporations, federal agencies and nonprofit organizations looking to diversify their workforce will meet with hundreds of deaf and hard-of-hearing students—who also are prospective employees—at the 19th annual Career Fair, 12:30-4 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 17, at Rochester Institute of Technology’s National Technical Institute for the Deaf. The event, part of Disability Employment Awareness Month, will be held in Lyndon Baines Johnson Hall on the RIT campus.
Companies and government agencies, including Apple, Microsoft, Draft Kings, Merck, IBM, Texas Instruments and the New York State Unified Court System 7th Judicial District, are participating in this year’s career fair.
Interpreters will be available at each table to facilitate communication as recruiters meet the estimated 400 students expected to participate. More than half of the companies will bring their employees who are RIT/NTID alumni back to campus serving as recruiters and role models for deaf and hard-of-hearing student job seekers.
“The RIT/NTID Career Fair is one of the best examples of how our students and graduates are making their mark in the workforce,” said John Macko, director of NTID’s Center on Employment. “We work with our students to prepare them for their careers, which often means in a workplace with hearing people. We also work closely with employers to educate them on best practices when hiring deaf employees. The career fair is a shining example of how well our system works.”
Last year, 270 RIT/NTID students completed a co-op experience and 96 percent of students who sought jobs after graduation found one within a year.
An employer panel consisting of representatives from Merck, Burns & McDonnell, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, PAHrtners Deaf Services, and Microsoft will provide students with insights into what companies are looking for in new employees from 6-7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 16, in the college’s CSD-Student Development Center, room 1300.
For more information on the RIT/NTID Career Fair, go to https://www.ntid.rit.edu/nce/students/career-fair.