Student Night & Job Fair

ASCE LA YMF’s 22nd Annual Student Night & Job Fair (SNJF) was held on Friday, February 5, 2021, and this year the event went completely virtual. As one of LA YMF’s biggest events of the year, SNJF aims to recognize outstanding students with scholarships and awards; provide aspiring engineers with the opportunity to find employment; and facilitate interactions among employers, young professionals, and students alike.

This year, the event featured 19 sponsors! Gold sponsors included Kimley-Horn, Ardurra, Los Angeles County Public Works, Hazen and Sawyer, and Pinner Construction. Silver sponsors included T.Y. Lin International, David Evans and Associates, Stantec, CWE, Hathaway Dinwiddie, Anser Advisory, and KPFF. Bronze sponsors included Arcadis, Condon-Johnson and Associates, HDR, Riverside County Transportation Department, MNS Engineers, AECOM, and Los Angeles Department of Water and Power.

SNJF typically features three key events: a job fair, networking hour, and awards ceremony – and this year was no different.

The job fair was hosted via Career Fair Plus – a virtual job fair platform. The job fair saw over 150 candidates and over 60 recruiters from our 19 sponsoring companies and agencies. Post event analytics showed that over 300 one-on-one meetings were held among our participants.

The networking event was held on Gather.Town – a virtual social realm that allows participants to create avatars and roam a virtual world. The platform allows participants to video chat when in close virtual proximity to one another. Gather.Town was available to event participants throughout the duration of the job fair event; however, the networking hour saw peak attendance on Gather.Town at over 40 participants in attendance. SNJF attendees, including YMF members, really enjoyed the Gather.Town platform and hope to utilize it for future virtual events.

Finally, the SNJF awards ceremony was held via Zoom. Over 70 guests were in attendance. Los Angeles County Public Works Director, Mark Pestrella gave an inspiring keynote address. Additionally, over $15,000 were awarded in scholarships. Throughout the event, raffles and a trivia game were held to keep viewers entertained. Over $150 in gift cards were awarded to game winners.

In all, this year’s SNJF was a huge success. Converting such a large event into a virtual experience was no easy feat, but with the support from our generous sponsors and help from our amazing volunteers, LA YMF is confident that this year’s SNJF truly made a positive impact on the lives of the candidates that attended and was worthwhile for the recruiters that participated.