Dear Editor:

This letter is in response to Ms. Ericka Birdsong’s article in The West Georgian dated Wednesday, February 17 titled Job Expo spurs mixed reviews among students. As the coordinator of the 2010 Job Expo, I would like to address a few of the issues Ms. Birdsong did not. We fully realize that this is a student newspaper written by the students for the students, but the article was certainly biased. I believe journalism in any form is still supposed to present BOTH sides of the story. Ms. Birdsong never interviewed anyone from the Department of Career Services, nor did she ask any of our staff questions before, during, or after Job Expo.

The Department values student input on any event that we sponsor. Students do have the opportunity to critique our major event by completing evaluations afterward. We are diligent in our attempt to establish relationships with companies and recruiters because that produces a better product for our students. We will gladly invite any company, corporation, or agency that students are interested in and would like to see come to UWG, but that is all we can do.

There were fewer companies in attendance this year than in previous years but that is a sign of the economy and was expected. On a positive note, every company who attended is trying to fill vacancies within their organization and some have multiple open positions. We agree that every major was not represented, but that is beyond our control. We invite several hundred recruiters but circumstances dictate attendance. Travel and recruiting budgets have been slashed, or cut altogether in many cases. Some industries have grown stagnant in hiring. Many of our recruiters do not specify majors. They are simply interested in a candidate who is articulate, knows their strengths, and is interested in their company. Specific jobs may not always be in their field but students must also think out the box for employment, especially in today’s economy.

I would like to challenge every student on campus to visit us in Career Services to learn about all the services we offer. I extend the same invitation to Ms. Birdsong or any member of the West Georgian staff. We are located in Parker Hall, 3rd floor, or visit our website at http://careerweb.westga.edu, or call us at 678.839.6431.

Amy Kent
UWG Department of Career Services
Job Expo Coordinator

Dear Kent,

Looking back, I agree with you that your office should have been contacted. In the future, I will urge my reporters to do so. At this point, I can do little to correct the article.

My apologies,

Maggie Hills

Editor-in-Chief

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2 comments

Anonymous

Wed Apr 28 2010 13:43

Anyone else notice the person who wrote in to the paper is named "Amy Kent" and the editor responded "Dear Kent"? Did the editor look at the person's name? Did the edit proof what they wrote before publishing it? Isn't this what editors are supposed to do? There seem to be a lot of issues with editing in other people's articles, but the editor not checking THEIR OWN WORK before publishing it sort of seems to be missing the point....

Anonymous

Tue Apr 6 2010 16:31

Who cares?...the businesses you bring out are always the same..how many times do we want to see fasenol and rent - a-car businesses...

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