Employment Connections matches skill with the ever-changing needs of employers.

Showing people how to find the right career is a passion for Chris Czarnik, manager of Employment Connections at Fox Valley Technical College. He believes the key is learning how to network. “About 75% of job openings are never posted,” Czarnik says. “The problem is most students are afraid of doing what’s required to uncover those opportunities through networking.”

To overcome this problem, Employment Connections held a networking event with more than 100 students and 12 employers in the Pepsi Atrium on the Appleton campus. In preparation, students wrote their own 60-second “elevator pitch” to quickly articulate their interests and abilities, in addition to developing questions to ask the employers.

The results were eye-opening. “The students became so engaged because they had a plan, and the seminar ran well over the scheduled time,” states Czarnik. “I know that some students got jobs or internships with employers they met during the event.”

In addition to special events, Employment Connections offers one-on-one support as well as seminars and group programs on topics such as resume writing, interview techniques and database job searching. The department also maintains an online resource full of important career-related information and offers a weekly career search program for the community called, JobSeekers Network.

Business sectors represented at the networking event:

• Accounting
• Finance
• Logistics
• Manufacturing
• Marketing
• National Defense
• Sales
• Staffing
• Supply Chain