Local businesses to offer opportunities for students
Dover High School will host a career fair on May 21 for students seeking summer jobs or postgraduate opportunities.
As young people prepare for summer jobs or working after high school graduation, the question becomes, “What is available?” Some answers may be found at a career fair coming to Dover High School on May 21 from 10 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. The career fair is geared toward Dover High School students seeking jobs for the summer or just exploring local possibilities after graduation. The career fair will be held inside the auxiliary gymnasium at the school.
“This is the first spring career fair we’ve done,” Dover Schools college and career navigator Lindsey Tidrick said.
Her position was created last year based on new direction from the Ohio Department of Education, which emphasizes postgraduate success for students.
“We talk with students about their plans after graduation and help to get them on a good path to success. We do a college and career fair in the fall, and I thought, ‘Why don’t we do a fair at the high school right before graduation geared toward graduating seniors?’” Tidrick said.
The event will see several businesses. “We have the local parks and recreation departments,” Tidrick said. “The Coast Guard, Starbucks will be there. It’s just a wide variety of opportunities.”
Sophomores and juniors also are invited to the career fair if they’re searching for summer work. Though Tidrick invited larger companies to participate, hiring age restrictions tend to keep it to smaller, local businesses.
“It’s something new we’ve never done before, but we hope to make it an annual event. It gives the students the chance to find a summer job or even a long-term job after graduation,” Tidrick said.
Tidrick has a firm handle on what students are looking for, thanks to some surveying among the student population.
“The top careers students express interest in are healthcare, education, anything sports related and STEM fields. There’s a lot of interest in healthcare, and there are excellent nursing programs available here. And education is still very strong, which makes me happy because we are always in need of educators who are young and excited about the field. The high interest in sports-related careers was a surprise. We had a speaker in to talk about possible careers. Do they want to be an athletic director? Sports management? It’s HR. It’s social media. It’s marketing. There are a lot of ways to go in a sports-related field,” Tidrick said.
Students will bring resumes to the career fair, and all of the upper three grades will attend, making for 150 kids per session that day.
Accommodations for students who are bilingual also will be a part of the career fair. “There are so many companies out there who can really benefit from having bilingual employees, so that’s another area we’re very excited about,” Tidrick said.
Other hiring companies that will be represented at the career fair are New Towne Mall, the Ohio State Highway Patrol, Allied Machine and Engineering, Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District, Andreas Furniture, the Tuscarawas County YMCA, Sheet Metal Workers Local 33, JATC, Boilermakers Union Local 744, Novelis, Plumbers and Pipefitters Union, The Society for Equal Access, Powell, Plasterers and Cement Masons Local 109, First Federal Bank, Kraton, Battle Motors, Carter Lumber, Dola Jean’s/Park Street Pizza, and ODOT.
“We have quite a few businesses attending,” Tidrick said, “and they will get to see pretty much all of our students who are looking for some kind of summer job or larger career. It will be a beneficial day on both sides, and we hope to keep doing this every year.”
Companies that would like to participate in the career fair may email Tidrick at the school by May 13 at tidrickl@dovertornadoes.com.