Lander Career Fair Draws Large Crowd

Forty-three employers participated in Lander University’s fall career fair, turning the Grier Student Center into a scene of frenzied activity.

“We have a wide variety of needs,” said Laura Wood, recruitment and retention specialist for Greenwood County.

Wood said that the county currently has openings for appraisers, an engineer, court system employees, planning and detention officers, firefighters, a paramedic and grounds maintenance workers, to name only a few. She said she was looking for “highly motivated people who want to make the county better.”

Countybank, which has locations in Greenville, Anderson, Simpsonville and Greer as well as in Greenwood, was also in attendance.

A background in business, management or accounting is good preparation for a career with Countybank, “but we also have a lot of people that have completely different majors,” said Pamela Yates, vice president and Human Resources programs manager.

Yates said that “we have quite a few Lander graduates that are with Countybank already. We’ve had a long-standing, good partnership with Lander, and we’d like to continue to do that.”

DR Horton bills itself as the top homebuilder in the country, and Area Sales Manager Nick Morese was on the hunt for “some great candidates” to work in construction, land acquisition, warranties, sales and accounting.

DR Horton “has a big presence in the Greenwood market,” according to Morese. Hunter’s Creek and Bentley Park are two of its developments, and other communities are in the works.

“We have quite a few more coming in the next couple of years,” he said.

Timia Hunter was in town to recruit nursing, business, marketing and information technology students for Bon Secours St. Francis Hospital’s Greenville location.

She said that St. Francis has hired “several” Lander nursing students in the past, and another student who has worked with the hospital as a student nurse is going to be hired “when she graduates in December.”

Cheryl Stiles is a veterinarian who works for the United States Department of Agriculture. An employee of the U.S.D.A.’s Food Safety and Inspection Service, she is assigned to Amick Farms, the poultry-processing plant in Saluda County.

“I make sure that the animals coming in are healthy, and the product going out is safe for consumption,” she said.

Stiles, who previously worked at Carolina Pride, in Greenwood, is also “concerned with making sure that animals are handled humanely and safely.”

She was “looking for people who are interested in getting into food safety, either as a veterinarian student or somebody who would be interested in the food safety realm. We have lots of entry level positions for both students who have degrees and also for people who do not have degrees but may have experience in that field,” she said.

“Networking and employment are the two main benefits” to students of attending a career fair, according to Courtney Carpenter, employment coordinator for Lander’s Career Services.

Attending a career fair “opens up their eyes to what’s out there. It’s really important for students to broaden their horizons,” she said.