On September 20th, 1,209 John Jay students attended the Career and Internship Fair, taking advantage of the 111 recruiters there. Sponsored by the Dallas Police Department, Portland Police and the U.S. Army, recruiters were eager to meet with students and offer internship opportunities as well as full-time and part-time employment.
“Fairs like these are critical because it gives employers the opportunity to meet our students, and offers students the chance to practice their networking skills. In this day in age, we need to be doing more than hiding behind the computer sending off resumes. We need to be on the front lines advocating for ourselves,” said Kristina Simonsen, Assistant Director for Employer Relations. “As they say, it’s not just what you know but who you know. It’s never too early to start building your network. Start with rehearsing your elevator pitch, then put it into practice at our fairs. You will be better positioned to land a job or internship upon graduation if you have a curated network of professionals in your corner.” We asked students and recruiters what they hoped to gain from this year’s fair; here is a sampling of their thoughts:
Renise Williams, Director of Recruitment & Selection, Blue Engine
"We are an education non-profit and it's great to see students who want exposure to things outside of what the university is known for, which is criminal justice. We tend to get a lot of students who are opened to explore other opportunities, and John Jay students are pretty well prepared for the career fair when they come."
John E. Mitchell, Officer & Recruiter, Baltimore County Police Department
"John Jay is like the melting pot for recruiting. For us in law enforcement it's a really good college to come to mainly because a lot of the students are criminal justice majors and trying to pursue a career in law enforcement."
Daniel Lebron, Officer with the Department of Public Safety, Syracuse University
"This is my first year recruiting at John Jay and I heard that it was a college for law enforcement. Basically a lot of students who are interested in law enforcement will come over to our desk and see what benefits we have that other agencies don’t offer, like schooling. If you don't have your bachelor's degree, you are able to get it for free with our department. If you are working towards your master’s degree, the only thing that you will have to pay for is the taxes. It's a win-win situation."
Dannerys Fuccillo, Human Resources Generalist, 1-800-Flowers
"Recruiting here at John Jay gives students the opportunity to know of other positions and organizations they can apply to that are not within the criminal justice industry."
Camille Beckles, Project Manager, Center for Policing Equity
"John Jay students have a really high caliber of work ethic; they’re really interested in the justice arena and for our purposes they have a really great research background. We found that in working with John Jay students, they bring great ideas to the table and have proven to be hard workers, which is important for our organization."
Andy Chen, sophomore at John Jay
"I hope to get an internship that helps me gain experience and more knowledge on my potential career field.”
David Lemieux, Officer with the Portland Maine Police Department
"Just looking at the amount of people here, there are almost 1,000 people. We have gone to several different colleges throughout the state of Maine and they don't have as many people, so coming down here to a diverse college like this, it's nice to have the students come and talk to us and see what we have to offer."
Debbie Fischer, Talent Acquisition Manager, Enterprise Holdings
"We've been coming here for years. We've had a long standing relationship with John Jay and I notice that the students here are very committed, and I always find great talent here. We are usually looking for management trainees and interns and sometimes if students are more interested in business we will have opportunities for them at Enterprise."
Sarahn O'Uhuru, Recruitment Coordinator, New York City Office of Chief Medical Examiner
"John Jay has passionate students who are eager to learn and contribute."
Anthony Ali, Director of Dispute Resolution, Better Business Bureau of New York
"The students are amazing. We always get a great turnout here for our career fairs. This is probably the eighth or ninth time that we are here and I will say that our internship goes well with the students—50% of our office is made up of John Jay students both internship and part-time. This is the school that we look forward to coming to the most because of the students, the turnout and how great the experience is."
Leslie Hernandez, Trainee and Outreach Coordinator, New Alternatives for Children, Bridges to Health Program
"For New Alternatives for Children, this is a great opportunity for us to meet with academic students who are interested in our field, and we always have a great time because all the students are prepared and look forward to learning more about our program."
Darrin Kazlauskas, Program Manager Recruiting, Portland Police Bureau
"John Jay has great students who are well prepared. We have interviewed and hired several students from this college and they’re always of better quality and caliber than students we may find elsewhere."
