The Center for Career and Experiential Education (CCEE) at the University of Rhode Island is bringing in nearly 15 different companies across different fields in the College of Arts and Sciences to speak with students virtually.
In this “lunch and listen” series, students will have the opportunity to speak virtually with professionals from the public and non-profit sector, media and communications, computational careers and corporate companies throughout the four-day period.
During these events, held Nov. 15 to Nov. 18, students will have an hour to listen to a panel of professionals speak about their experiences and ask questions. In addition, students are offered 30 minutes to speak to panelists one-on-one in breakout rooms based on their interests, according to Brianne Neptin, the career advisor for the College of Arts and Sciences.
Neptin said that she will be present during the four days and will ask questions to employers before opening up the floor to students.
“The event is semi-networking, but at the same time, these companies will be advertising open opportunities, internship options, options for the summer and for the spring,” she said. “It’s a career fair and networking event mashed into one.”
According to her, many of the panelists in attendance are also alumni of the University.
“It’s nice to meet a fellow ram and see first-hand their success after graduating from the University,” Neptin said. “It also makes students feel more comfortable knowing that these professionals have had similar experiences as them in college at URI.”
Kristy Embrack Searles, the marketing and event coordinator for the CCEE, said that the process of planning for this event started early this summer to ensure that students would be able to speak to a variety of different employers.
Searles said that the early planning efforts were so that employers were aware of the event months in advance, which leaves less room for cancellations and other commitments popping up.
While this event is similar to a career fair, Searles said that it’s not classified as a career fair due to the limited number of employers that are attending the event.
“For a career fair, we try to have as many possible employers as possible so that students have as many opportunities as possible to connect with people,” Searles said. “However, for a panel event such as this one, we try to limit the number of employers present so that students can ask questions and get responses in a timely manner.”
She said that if there are 10 people on a panel, by the time they get through all introductions, there would be little-to-no time for students to be able to ask questions. With only about three to four panelists per session, students will benefit from the event more, according to Searles.
She recommended all students, regardless of their year, attend this event. She said that the CCEE trys to be inclusive of all students when planning networking events such as these.
“We’re trying to move our energy to younger students so that students are not just thinking about their career when they’re juniors or second-semester seniors,” Searles said. “We really want to encourage students to start their career journeys early or at least start thinking about it early on.”
She also expressed the benefits of having an event such as this in a virtual format and said that it can conduct better conversations between students and professionals.
“What we’ve found is that with this virtual format, students and employers have been able to have really meaningful connections,” she said. “In person, there’s background noise and a line of students behind you waiting to speak with the same person, which can add a sense of pressure.”
Searles that in the future, even past the pandemic, the CCEE may continue to have networking events virtually due to the calm and meaningful effect that virtual events can have on students and employers.