Students look forward to the spring career fair as a way to meet companies, look for internships and jobs and network with professionals.

In the weeks prior, the Center for Career Development works to attract and recruit companies to make the career fair possible.

“Our job is to be strategic and look at a variety of different industries and see who are the big players and determine who would be a good fit for our students in the majors of our school and [then] go after them,” Rachel Cirelli, director of the Center for Career Development at the college, said.

For the Center of Career Development, getting companies to attend the career fair is a non-stop job.

Cirelli called the process “a mixture of managing [our] current relationships and constantly researching new ones.”

Cirelli said that while the college has companies that are very reliable and invest in the college community, the center is trying to bring in companies that can meet the college’s needs.

“It is only one venue where employers like to do student recruitment,” Cirelli said, assuring students that they should not feel limited by the career fair.

Manhattan College actively maintains a job and internship database called Jasperlink that students can access for recent job listings by companies looking to hire students.

Cirelli said Jasperlink is an “underutilized resource,” especially when “not every employee has the time, energy, or money to physically send a recruiter here but they are posting in our database constantly.”

Nadia Peters, coordinator of employer relations at the Center for Career Development, said the spring career fair will have new companies in attendance.

These companies include Brandwatch, TKS Solutions, Robert Half, Transystems Architect & Engineer, Workbridge Associates, New Victory Theater, Michael Baker International and Robert Derector Associates.

The college’s ability to attract and retain company interest is tied to its alumni base.

“Alumni are constantly contacting us, saying ‘I want MC students at this company, send me some resumes, I will look trough them and present the best to my boss,’” Cirelli said.

Director of Alumni Relations Thomas McCarthy said that the career fairs held on campus are a joint effort between the alumni society and the Center for Career Development.

“There is a committee of volunteers, who not only are present on the day of to help check people in, but also as we lead up to recruiting all the companies to attend,” McCarthy said. “They [alumni] will literally call the companies” to help the college in recruiting them.

Alumni are also among the recruiters representing the various companies at the career fair.

“We have a lot of alumni that represent a lot of the companies,” McCarthy said. “In general, alumni like hiring our students. I think they feel it’s a good way for them to give back.”