The College of Communication and Information held its annual Career Expo Thursday, giving CCI students an opportunity to meet and network with communication businesses in the northeast Ohio area.

Students toured tables representing different companies in the Student Center ballroom, submitting resumes, exchanging contact information and simply asking questions about working in a professional communications industry.

“I think it’s a good training environment,” CCI program director Marianne Warzinski said. “It’s an investment in our students and in making sure that we’re helping them make the connections they need to make.”

In the months leading up to the expo, the CCI reached out to over 250 businesses in the region. Almost 50 companies, including local media outlets like the Akron Beacon Journal and WKSU, had tables at the event.

Other brands in the area, as diverse as ESPN Cleveland and the Girl Scouts of North East Ohio, were represented at the expo, seeking interns and employees in journalism, public relations and other communication fields.

“We came last year, and had a lot of good luck in meeting a lot of great students,” Jim Vickers, editor of Ohio Magazine, said. “It’s a great place to connect, to meet students, tell them about the opportunities we have, and see if our company is in line with what they’re looking for.”

Roughly 230 students, all CCI majors and recent graduates, registered for the expo, down from nearly 400 last year.

Following a two-hour job fair and a lunch reception with CCI dean Amy Reynolds, some companies seeking more one-on-one engagement with interested students held formal interviews.

Krista Rodriguez, Vice President of Client Fulfillment for Hudson-based marketing agency, The Impact Group, said her company has hired Kent State students as interns and full-time employees for many years, and credited the Career Expo as a good opportunity to network.

“We’re very happy with the talent that Kent State has brought us,” Rodriguez said. “It’s a good place to start our internship search every year.”

Event organizers said having a dedicated job fair for CCI students and related businesses helps students looking to enter the professional world by exposing them to the wide variety of jobs and careers that a degree in a communications field can lead to.

“Even though students in our classes are being trained very well for their professions, sometimes there isn’t a lot of time to talk about career development,” Warzinski said. “The expo speaks to them a little bit more, because it narrows the communication and information field for them.”

Conor Battles is the CCI and libraries reporter. Contact him at [email protected].