Finding out how to naturally utilize zoom, other online video conference applications, and incorporate them into your everyday workplace is to your benefit, according to Mercy’s Virtual Career Fair seminar. 

Whether it be school, business, or socially related, virtual meetings have seamlessly replaced in person meetings for the foreseeable future. A trend that not only is apparently here to stay but, is gaining popularity amongst colleges nationwide.

Ana Ribeiro Santillano is an accounting major at Mercy College.

“They are (Career Fairs) a great opportunity to meet potential employers. I don’t like the virtual format as its more intimidating and less students participate; however, I am glad I participated because, I was invited to interview with one of the companies I had met with.”

The new setting for these fairs is most definitely an adjustment for all parties involved.

For some, it’s hard to fathom just exactly how these virtual meetings have taken over in person settings so abruptly. Virtual meeting spaces were more of just a convenience just a few short years ago now that they are completely mainstream.

Eduardo Balbuena, a student at Mercy College, has attended a few of the virtual fairs since the pandemic struck.

“It’s a lot easier to attend a virtual fair rather than the fairs that they held when I was a freshman. I never attended them back then.”

While in some ways providing more of a headache than its ease of access, digital platforms such as zoom or skype are very much active not only at Mercy College but, well within the work force.

“It’s a great recourse. When the pandemic hit, I’m sure it was a scary thought for those graduating seniors. An urgency and sense of the unknown around the corner. In a way I’m going through it now,” says Balbuena.

No short on the trend of online zoom calls since the pandemic, Mercy College’s career and professional development teams have been progressively expanding their digital platform, allowing for virtual career town halls and fairs to be held with quick connectivity, and remote access.

“Prior to the pandemic, our department had not hosted a virtual fair,” said Sara Sheppard, the Employment Relationship Manager at Mercy College.

Since first utilizing the online format for career fairs around the time of the COVID-19 breakout in 2020, virtual career fairs have become an event worth dedicating your time towards, as its ease of access at your fingertips allows for easier participation.

“We hosted our first virtual career fair in 2020, and we now have had at least one each semester ever since.”

Regularly hosting virtual events is also something that gives the students at Mercy for access to a heightened knowledge of the professional career force, like an upcoming event, “A Day in the Life of a Scientist,” where 10 scientists from Regeneron will share ideas about their career paths.

With the intention of individualizing each online seminar or fair to a specific career path, Mercy’s innovative take on these events have inspired students to attend these events with their remote and virtual ease of access.

While for now, the Career and Development Board is still seeing the same attendance for these career fairs virtually as it did prior to the pandemic, adapting the new streaming, and ease of access format is something worth taking advantage of.

When focusing on the next step on your track to success, consider the career and development departments virtual events. Whether it being specific to your career of choice, something you’d like to one day be a part of, or a possible different venture you’d like more information on, the resources are always available at Mercy.

Explore. Prepare. Implement. Career Launch. Make your career EPIC.