SCRANTON, LACKAWANNA CO. (WOLF) — Hundreds of students filled the Jefferson College Moffat Student Center in Scranton on Wednesday for the school’s bi-annual job fair where employers could directly connect with students for potential jobs and internships.

“Being the school of technology, our job is to worry about jobs, right? We think about jobs at the beginning, we don’t wait till the end,” explained associate director of Career Services Dana Healey. “And we have, you know pretty intense programs. Two years. And we want the students, whether they’re freshmen, sophomores, or seniors, we really want them thinking about the end. Thinking about what they want to do for the rest of their life.”

89 businesses set up booths and meet directly with students from all over the college’s 18 associate degrees and 5 academic certificate programs from HVAC, to mechanical engineering, to health services, and more.

Jacob Nielson is a senior studying architectural drafting and design technologies who already has a job lined up due to a previous job fair. He and his friends still took the time to roam and talk to some tables, and he encouraged others to do the same.

“It worked out in our favor, and it worked out for a lot of people,” said Nielson. “Like I have a bunch of friends that went here and they would come to the career fair. Talk to one company, all you have to do is talk to at least one company and you’re almost guaranteed to get a job because the things that we learn here is actual in-field things. It’s not just like theory; it’s actual applicable things.”

The job fair is only open to Johnson College students and alumni, so they don’t have to worry about outside competition.

For the career services department, which spends hours organizing resumes, consulting students on interviews, and setting up the fair, they’re filling an important role.

“We’re filling the jobs in the community,” continued Healey. “We all live here, right? So, we all want these jobs to be filled, and the people that are coming to recruit feel the same way. So, it’s exciting for me because I feel like the programs are, we are successful and this proves that it’s working.”

The next career fair will be in the fall.