Locat employers recruit on Career Awareness Day

CNY Business Journal (1996+), May 25, 2007 by Kondracki, Kathryn

SYRACUSE - More than 30 companies and health-care organizations participated in a job fair May 22 to recruit workers with disabilities. Approximately 100 people attended Projects with Industry's (PWI) Career Awareness Day at Le Moyne College.

PWI, a Clay-based nonprofit that helps people with disabilities find jobs, is federally funded through the U.S. Department of Education's Rehabilitation Services Administration. The Board of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES) manages PWI, which is located at 4500 Crown Road.

The career fair, in its 26th year, offers those with disabilities opportunities to network and distribute resumes to potential employers.

Employers recruit workers for positions for entry-level to high-level jobs at the career fair. Some of the fair's participants include the State University of New York (SUNY) Upstate Medical University, Syracuse University, Rapid Response Monitoring Services, Inc., and Rosewood Heights Health Center.

SUNY Upstate Medical University has participated in the fair for the past several years. At this year's event, it was looking to fill clerical, administrative, and maintenance positions (both full and part time), says Edgar Johnson, clerical specialist. SUNY Upstate employs 6,400 on its 30-acre campus at ' 750 E. Adams St. in Syracuse.

Johnson helps qualified job candidates land job interviews by handing resumes to department supervisors. He also meets with supervisors to discuss the candidate.

"Most of them do get an interview because of my advocating," Johnson says.

SU has used the career fair as a recruiting tool for seven years. The university currently has 85 openings online, including positions in the food service, maintenance, and physical-plant departments, says Sharon Cole, employment specialist. SU employs about 4,300.

"We recruit at absolutely every level," says Christina Percoski, employment specialist.

The university expected to hire some attendees to fill temporary clinical positions, Cole says. She did not know how many positions SU planned to fill.

Rapid Response Monitoring Services attended the fair for the first time this year with the intent of recruiting. Angella Martin, human-resources manager, was interested in hiring full-time callcenter operators. She did not know how many jobs were vacant.

The alarm-system monitoring company employs 292 at its 40,000-square-foot facility, at 400 W. Division St. in Syracuse.

Rosewood Heights Health Center has hired six employees from past PWI Career Awareness Days, says Holly Glassford, director of human resources. The 242bed long-term care facility is located at 614 S. Crouse Ave. in Syracuse.

Glassford says, "It's a great source of employees."