At the California campus’s recent career fair, several employers were willing to be interviewed to share their insights, experiences, and potential advice to upcoming graduates and alumni looking for a job in their fields of study.

Nicole Walach, Human Resources Manager at The Children’s Home of Pittsburgh, outlined potential opportunities for students looking to join the team:

“The biggest opportunities would be for nursing students, as we do have a hospital, a pediatric specialty hospital. 
We have a clinical ladder. We have an opportunity to advance within our organization, where you can become a patient care technician as a nursing student, advance into a graduate nurse, then advance to a registered nurse. A few years later, then you can become a clinical leader where you’re in charge of a shift, and then you can even branch into a manager of nursing or chief nursing officer the longer you’re with us at the children’s end.”

Walach described the ideal candidate to be flexible and willing to change with a frequently evolving work environment.

“I would say that they need to be flexible. Meaning that the flexibility to, if something changes within the day, adjust. I will say from experience when it comes to admin positions, there are times where you’re pulled into a meeting at the very last minute or you have a project deadline, but you’re pulled by a program director to complete something that day. So, just having the flexibility to be able to kind of move your day around in the event that it does shift and change. I will also say from our hospital standpoint with our nurses, that would also need to be flexible. If you have a three patient assignment and you have an admission coming in, to be able to take on that admission, but also care for your other patients that you have, because we don’t determine admissions until really last minute.”

Walach reflected on a frequent personal experience that makes the job fulfilling.

“I will say a personal experience I have, and this happens frequently, is when, in our hospital, we have a child who’s discharged and may have been with us for a year. We do a huge celebration down the hallway where we have pom-poms, and we all say, ‘Whoa, you’re doing great!” That, to me, is such a positive and rewarding experience and that’s why I love working with The Children’s Home. I may be behind the scenes, not with the patients directly, but it just proves what we’re doing makes a difference.”

Victoria Stapf, Recruiter for ESS, stated that the biggest challenge for students entering education is fulfilling certification requirements:

“I would say the biggest challenge is getting people to complete their documentation and all of the requirements in order for them to get higher in the districts, because, you know, there’s clearances that they have to get. They have to upload their official transcripts. We have to have their degree. It’s just a lot of paperwork, and some people are a little slow in doing that, and it takes time, because we can’t send the approval to the school districts until we have all the documentation in. I think that it’s important that people that are interested after college know, you need to be on top of your ‘p’s and q’s’ so that you can get into job positions as quickly as possible.”

Stapf expressed how lowering academic requirements for substitute teaching made positions more accessible, but led to candidates failing to handle the children properly.

“So, before, you used to have a teaching degree to be able to go in and substitute teach. However, now you only have to have a bachelor’s degree, and then we give you on the job training in order for you to be able to go into the school districts. It allows more options, as far as people are, to get jobs. But it does make it a little difficult that some people do not have the years of professionalism behind them to know how to properly handle school district children because, though they have the basis, it doesn’t cover what you acquire in four years of education with it being ‘breathed down your throat’, if that makes sense.”

Stapf reflected on her gradual growth into becoming a recruiter, showing gratitude to be able to come back to the districts where she once worked.

“So, for me, I have a very unique experience with this company because after I graduated and I was substitute teaching, I actually was employed through ESS. So I was subbing for them 10 years ago before I took on this position. It was nice because I had experience with some of the school districts that I’m now hiring for because I was a sub for them in your district. So, I’m able to give a lot of hands-on experience in relatable knowledge because I’ve done that.”

Adam Freed, Assistant Clinical Manager at The Bradley Center, expressed the challenging behaviors of the children that are cared for at the center:

“I think the biggest challenge is definitely some of the behaviors, especially where we work, they can be really testing, really trying. A lot of the kids we work with definitely try to push limits, probably in a form of defense, you know, building relationships to something that they are not all that familiar with or building healthy relationships. The feeling of somebody caring for them, sometimes can be very difficult and we will see a level of pushback, whether that be just, isolation, closing themselves off or, to the other degree, physical aggression, and trying to prove to us why they’re not worthy of being cared for. Although they can’t communicate that.”

When asked about recent industry changes, Freed pointed out the unchanging nature of human behavior and its connection to making a lasting impact.

“I think human behavior has kind of followed similar patterns since probably the beginning of time. I think we’ve become a little bit better at identifying it, and I think that’s helped us maybe tailor our process to how we work with kids, but I think the candidates that we look for are, you know, continuing to stay the same. We need people with all different backgrounds. All different experiences that can connect to different kids.”

Freed explained the nuance of the work being done at The Bradley Center, encouraging potential candidates to truly understand the mission and goals of the center’s team.

“I definitely think, as far as the Bradley Center goes, we are, kind of, an area that not a lot of people outside of mental health are familiar with, even some people who are in mental health aren’t familiar with. So, just understanding the residential side of things and, you know, knowing this area and the services that we provide, and just knowing what we are. I think that’s important.”

The career fair occurred Wednesday, March 18 from 11 AM – 2 PM. Various employers, ranging from law, non-profits, education, and social work, interacted with students from various class rankings and majors.