Last Thursday, April 7, the annual Criminal Justice Career Fair hit an all-time high in attendance with participation from almost 40 agencies and 110 students.
The Criminal Justice Career Fair, supported by the Criminal Justice Club, allows Criminal Justice majors to network with organizations and learn about potential careers.
“In my time here, it was the largest fair in terms of the participants by at least a half dozen,” Daniel Fetsco, Assistant Academic Professional Lecturer in the Criminal Justice Department, said.
“So that was kind of fun and a little bit tense, but that gave me the sense that the Career Fair was working because it was a healthy competition of employers competing with each other, but in a collegial, friendly environment.”
This was the first time the career fair had been held in person since 2019.
“It really was one of those things that we didn’t have an idea of quite how successful it was going to be until the very day of,” Fetsco said.
“A lot of it is networking,” Clair White, Assistant Professor in the Criminal Justice Department, said. “Putting faces to names and building that professional development, being able to go up to people to introduce yourself which is not something we get a lot of training or education on is how to social network.”
Next year, Fetsco anticipates that the fair will be joined by conservation efforts such as the Game and Fish department as well as the police department from Colorado State University.
White hopes to bring in more organizations that overlap with the criminal justice system as well as promote graduate schools or programs to join the event.
“Trying to hit the main three of the criminal justice system; police, courts, and corrections, but also getting those nonprofits or those organizations that maybe they deal with our at risk youth, but they’re not what we think of as the criminal justice system,” White said.
The Criminal Justice Department anticipates holding a virtual career fair next Wednesday, April 27.
“I think we’re going to have a very successful virtual one as well,” Mackenzie Armijo, President of the Criminal Justice Club, said. “We had about 20 agencies register and then we’ve also had a lot more interest from other agencies, including a lot of ones we had at the in person fair.”
Fetsco and White are also the supervisors for the Criminal Justice Club, which played a critical role communicating with the agencies in attendance and building rapport so that they might return next year.
“It really does take a collective effort,” Fetsco said. “There are a few students who were very diligent, not taking no for an answer or remembering to tactfully follow up with a lot of agencies.”
“It’s important to make sure that they know that we’re grateful for their participation and that creates a positive relationship for the future,” Armijo said. “I even hand-wrote thank you letters for all of them because it is those small touches that make all the difference.”
Fetsco would also like to thank the Union staff for being flexible and accommodating.
The Criminal Justice Fair also has a virtual event which can be found here.
