Students and employers connect at Washburn University career fair

TOPEKA, Kan. (WIBW) - Washburn University welcomed more than 125 organizations to its fall career fair Wednesday morning, all eager to meet the students they could soon employ.

Allison Geist, regional marketing director for the Stormont-Vail Events Center, makes it a point to attend events like these.

“There’s actually a great turnout at this year’s career fair,” she says. “We love coming here. We make sure that we don’t miss a single one. It’s great to talk to the students.”

Moreover, students have the chance to make a good first impression and get their foot in the door with potential employers.

Connor Enos, student at Washburn, is planning for a career in law enforcement. He says he appreciates the amount and variety of employers present at the career fair.

“Just being able to talk to everybody,” says Enos. “I mean, there’s, let alone like there’s probably six or seven law enforcement here, and then there’s many many other opportunities here for everybody else too.”

But today’s young professionals are focused on more than just wages. Social aspects of a job, like workplace culture and work-life balance, are increasingly important to them.

“Definitely having a good work life balance and just being able to kind of separate work from your personal life is a big thing for sure.” says Enos.

“I look for a friendly and healthy work environment,” says Hunter Wise, senior at Washburn University. “Friendly employers I think a lot of people don’t emphasize a healthy work environment. There’s often toxic work environment. So that is a big plus for me.”

Employers are adjusting by making the workplace a more enjoyable place to be.

“We’re fun facility we do a lot of, you know, even when we’re not having live events, we do a lot of, you know, team building,” says Geist while discussing her own workplace culture. “I mean, we went to the Royals game not long ago. we worked for Habitat for Humanity for a full day it was, you know, we do a lot as a staff. We’re really close and we’ve got a great diverse, wonderful staff that just is really passionate about their careers in their jobs at our facility, because it’s such a fun place to be.”

Wednesday’s career fair is part of ‘Career Week’ at Washburn University, which focuses on preparing students for the workforce after graduation.

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