CHICAGO: The 6th Annual Indo American Community Services (IACS) Diversity Career Expo, held at Hilton Chicago on October 22 was a grand success.
Over 1000 people attended the Diversity Expo. Forty companies participated, among them Dover Corporation, Walgreens, United Airlines, Nielsen, Capital One and others. The event was attended by graduating students seeking internships; fresh graduates looking for entry level jobs and experienced professionals in pursuit of better career opportunities. The participants were not only from Indian American community but also from Asian American, Hispanic, African American and other communities.
Greg Jones, Diversity and Inclusion Managing Director of United Airlines, inaugurated the Diversity Career Expo.
In his speech, Jones commented that organizations whose culture and workforce is as close to society as possible will thrive in their business. Many organizations in corporate America encourage diversity initiatives not only to educate their employees about other cultures but also to foster respect and understanding, which ultimately leads to workforce harmony and better productivity. He appreciated IACS for organizing such gatherings, where hiring employers and prospective employees come together under one roof.
The Career Expo had two major highlights. One was its popular resume review, career advice and counseling service provided by industry veterans with recruiting background. Many participants lined up for this service, as job aspirants appreciate honest critique on the strengths and weakness of their resume and guidance to make it more attractive. The second one was a professional photograph service. Participants who had their professional photos taken would be able to use them on networking sites like LinkedIn or even for electronic resumes.
Participating employers set up their stalls manned by recruiting and hiring managers. Each stall had a display board listing out open positions in the company. This information was very useful for job seekers to focus specifically on the employers whose positions matched their skills. Job seekers also had a unique opportunity to interact with hiring managers, seek their perspective on open positions, skill expectations, growth and educations opportunities. The event provided job seekers with an opportunity to network with colleagues as well as make new connections.
Shalini, one of the experienced professionals who attended the event, commented that this is a great opportunity for prospective job seekers to meet with recruiting managers. The hiring companies can ‘put a name to the face’ so to speak, which is not possible if one applies for a job online. Joe Chen, who is a student from Chicago looking for an internship opportunity, commented that the ‘resume critique’ service is very useful for students like him, as he learnt what recruiting managers look for.
Suresh, Recruiting Manager from Nielsen commented that, the fair was useful to them not only to gather resumes of job aspirants, but also meet the prospective candidates in person and assess their capabilities, which is not easy to do in an online job application or telephone conversation.
Satyendar Goel, one of the IACS Executive member said that credit for the grand success of this event goes to dedicated volunteers. Jagan Bukkaraju mentioned that IACS is pleased to see many of the employers participate every year as they view this event as a great opportunity to hire talented candidates from diverse backgrounds. Sreenivas Katragadda, President of IACS mentioned that his organization has scheduled a career expo in Dallas on November 12.
Surendra Ullal
