The College of Nursing provided an opportunity for its students to network and meet with potential employers during a career day Monday, Oct. 27.

Students met with company representatives to ask questions and learn about positions available for nursing students and graduates.

“Our goal is to, if nothing else, get them interview experience,” said Tierra Haynes, the special events coordinator for the College of Nursing. 

The college hosted the career day on the first and second floor of Henderson Hall between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m.

“We have a good mix of large corporations as well as smaller ones,” Haynes said. “It’s a good mix of different nursing opportunities.”

Some of the organizations that participated in the career day included The MetroHealth System, Heritage of Hudson, the Cleveland Clinic and Akron Children’s Hospital.

Future employers look for professionalism, communication skills and passion when hiring nursing students and graduates.

“We look for someone that is obviously professional and is able to articulate why they want to be a nurse,” said Amanda Fulajtar, a recruiter with the Cleveland Clinic.

The Cleveland Clinic hires students as nursing technicians to start out but also offers jobs to recent graduates as registered nurses. 

“The Cleveland Clinic mantra is patients first,” Fulajtar said.

Employers also value communication and people skills when hiring nursing majors and graduates.

“No matter how you frame it, you have to have people skills,” said Laurie Barber, interim assistant chief nursing officer for ValleyCare Health System of Ohio. 

In the profession of nursing, students and graduates will interact not only with the patients but with the patients’ families and friends as well.

Barber said the slogan of ValleyCare is it’s a “great place for patients to receive care, doctors to deliver care and employees to work.” 

Nursing students are eligible to apply online for the organizations represented during the career day after meeting with the representatives.

Contact Samantha Ickes at [email protected].