BY KASSANDRA FERNANDES
The Den roared with music as two of the scheduled eight employers sat patiently waiting for students to arrive for a networking event. The other six employers never showed up, neither did the students.
“Its very easy to get caught in that bubble, and networking events are a great opportunity to get out of that bubble.”
Brendan Hall-Hern, SSU
The networking event, held last week in the Den at Davis Campus, was organized by the SSU to connect Sheridan students with employers.
SSU events coordinator Brendan Hall-Hern initiated this event in response to students who wanted to meet employers. Hall-Hern says, “One of the biggest pieces of feedback I heard was that students want a networking event and they want a chance to meet employees and expand their horizons.”
We Got Game!, a company that teaches children how to code and Hatch Canada, a gaming company, were the only two booths that showed up. We Got Game representative Chris Ryan believes it is essential for students to make connections with employers. “I think it’s important to gain exposure to companies and networking to help students find different opportunities,” Ryan said.
Most students that were in the Den weren’t there for the networking event. According to the Sheridan College website, Davis Campus is Sheridan’s largest campus, home to approximately 8,000 students, suggesting there could have been a better turn out. Apparently, this is not uncommon at Davis. Hell-Hern says, “With this campus, it’s hard to get turn out of students. My biggest focus as events coordinator isn’t about making events that sell out, but instead to make an event that maybe if we only get 10 people, if it’s the best time of their life, then we will be happy.”
Sheridan College student Ehsan Yadgar attended the networking event and was interested in the Hatch Coding booth. Yadgar is thankful for the event. “I think they [SSU] are doing a really great job. They are combining the two aspects of having fun and students education together, providing them a good future,” said Yadgar.
It is unknown whether this event will be scrapped in the future but it will most likely be revamped. “This was kind of a test run because we had never done anything like this before, as the SSU. We’re going to take our lessons learned and different things from it and keep making it better. Bring it back,” Hall-Hern said.
Very interesting story, I attended the event but I only came for the beer.