The School of Nursing at Averett University hosted a Nursing Career Fair on Thursday, Feb. 22, at its Riverview Campus. Due to success from last year, the nursing staff and professors say they know it is now an important part of their program to help seniors network with local employers.

“We were getting a lot of phone calls from employers who wanted to talk to our seniors and so we said, we should bring them all in here,” said Debbie Pike, School of Nursing administrative assistant.

More than 15 different employers set up a table to talk to students. Averett senior, Chyanne Prevette, said an employer even offered her a job at the fair.

“This was a great networking opportunity – a great way to find out what type of employers were out there. I was able to talk to the people who work there, and they told me directly – this is what we need and this is what we look for. I honestly didn’t know all that was available to me.”

Nursing students from both Averett and Danville Community College (DCC) said it was a wonderful opportunity because they were able to talk to employers at the table directly and it gave them a great idea of what the workplace environment is like.

“There was a broad spectrum of different opportunities. It puts everything in one place, it’s all right in front of you,” said Angela Goddard, DCC senior nursing student.

“Whenever you have face-to-face with people, it’s more personal. When you can make a connection to people, that gives the organization a personality,” said Edna Gantt, talent acquisition manager with Cone Health. “When we interact with the student, it gives a feel for the quality of the student and whether they would be a good fit for our organization.”