Victoria Asgard woke up Wednesday prepared to find a silver lining in a virtual world brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.
As a UF public relations senior, Wednesday’s virtual Careers in Communication fair marked one of the final opportunities she had to find full-time employment before she graduates.
When she logged on to the virtual portal at 10:30 a.m., only one of the two employers she was interested in that offering full-time positions in her field was available to speak. She saw the blue live chat icon that indicated a representative was available, introduced herself with a question about the kind of clients the firm represents and waited. No response.
She checked two more times over the next two hours. Nothing changed.
“It's really tough when you don't have that face-to-face interaction,” Asgard, 21, said. “It's a lot harder to make a genuine connection, especially you know, if there's no answer.”
With COVID-19 forcing strong social distancing measures, UF decided to transition its semesterly, in-person Careers in Communication fair from March 18 to a virtual fair Wednesday. The online iteration lasted from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., retained 28 of the original 37 employers and had more than 240 students RSVP, said Erica Betz, associate director for recruitment services for UF Student Affairs.
Many students were in a position similar to Asgard’s. Through the pandemic, they saw employment opportunities wither away, casting a sense of uncertainty as students tried to wrap up what’s left of their semesters.
Betz said the virtual fair was effective at connecting students with employers, something employers like Rob Harder, Director of Radio Programming at WUFT, and Tom Doerr, News Director at WINK News, a television station based in Fort Myers, Florida agree with. Harder said he saw more than 15 students, which he said isn’t far from the average he has seen in past fairs.
But he and Doerr, along with many students, agreed that the live chat paled in comparison to face-to-face interactions.
“Nothing beats in-person interaction because the employer and the potential employee can read each other,” Doerr wrote in an email. “Intangibles become important.”
Harder had a positive outlook on the live chat and said that since each conversation was archived, it allows him the opportunity to revisit the interviews in the future.
For sophomore UF public relations student Erin Lewis, the live chat wasn’t a concern.
In January, she applied to several PR firms, knowing the experience would be important when she was looking for a full-time job in the future.
But then came March. Emails of program cancellations flooded her inbox, and she had to start her search over.
There were three employers registered when she logged on to the virtual fair. But like Asgard, only one was available to talk. She messaged Liquid Creative Studio, a Gainesville-based PR firm, and unlike Asgard, she got a reply — and later, a follow-up interview.
She said the fair was effective at connecting her to potential employers but that it wasn’t as effective as past fairs, where she got to meet individual employers directly. She noted that messages took time to get a response, something she attributed to employers speaking to multiple students.
“It’s a bit disconcerting to carry on multiple text conversations at the same time,” Doerr said. “In fairness to any candidate, a hiring manager wants to focus on one person at a time.”
Betz said the Career Connections Center utilizes Symplicity to power Gator CareerLink. Symplicity is a student services provider that helps high education institutions manage student services, according to its website. Betz said since the students and employers have their profiles in the system, the conversion to a virtual platform offered direct chatting.
Though this semester’s communications career fair maintained the ability to connect students with prospective employers, especially in a time of uncertainty brought by the pandemic, many left wishing for a better way to conduct interviews. And students like Asgard have to remain hopeful while looking for a future after graduation and trying to adapt to the increasing uncertainty.
“It's a lot more difficult than it normally would be for a college student,” she said. “I hope that employers will take that into account in the future. I think it's just a matter of adapting and patience.”
Correction: This story has been updated to reflect that Erica Betz is the associate director for recruitment services for UF Student Affairs. The Alligator originally reported differently.
Contact Christian Ortega at cortega@alligator.org. Follow him on Twitter @unofficialchris.
Photo by Christina @ wocintechchat.com on Unsplash
