University of Guam, Fall 2007 Job Fair

The University of Guam (UOG) and Guam Department of Labor held their semi-annual Career/Job Fair at the UOG field house in Mangilao, Guam, Thursday, 11.01.2007. Kurencio B. Ngowakl (CRAC Chairperson) attended the event as the representative for the Pacific Islands’ outreach efforts.

During the weeks leading up to the Job Fair, Leah Beth Haholowaa (UOG Career Development Officer) sent NRCS a formal invitation to attend this event via Eileen Winkle. Once the registration form was filled out and the registration fee paid, the host for the fair took out a paid advertisement for the upcoming event in the local newspaper. We missed getting our agency’s name on this ad by one day. Two weeks before the job fair, UOG Enrollment Management & Student Services Career Development Office sent out an invitation for an Employers Night hosted at Hilton Resort & Spa. The purpose of the Employers Night was to inform participants of the layout for the job fair. This also afforded a venue and the opportunity to network with those of other local/federal agencies who registered for the fair as participants.

The venue and location for the job fair proved beneficial for our outreach efforts. The local media (radio and newspaper) were present at the job fair and covered the event.

I estimate the peak attendance for this event at approximately two thousand five hundred to three thousand people who attended the career/job fair. There was a good mix of age groups, backgrounds and experiences. Fifty-four (54) employers registered for the career/job fair. More that seventy three people made serious visits/inquiries at our NRCS booth for job vacancies, however only seventy-three (73) were willing to sign-in on our log sheet. The breakdown is as follows: Thirty-five females (38%), thirty-eight males (52%); seventy Pacific Islander (96%), two Anglo-Saxon (3%) and one off Arabic descent (1%); eighteen (25%) are students and of the eighteen students, two (2) of them came with their resumes. Because we do not have any current vacancies, I gave each visitor a fact sheet, our website address and NRCS trinkets (pens, clips and letter openers.

With regards to outreach, I feel this fair is a beneficial venue in reaching out to the community of Guam regarding our programs and who we are as an agency. The following are some observations that I made at this recent career/job fair. It is important to have at least two people manning the booth at the job fair. One person can open the session and another to serve as a replacement at 12:30 pm until the close of the afternoon session. The fact sheets proved invaluable at this fair. Business cards proved to be an important item as well. It is also a good idea to have an ample supply of NRCS trinkets to pass out to customers who visit our booth. Another observation I made is the importance of coming fully stocked and expecting the unexpected instead of running around at the last minute trying to photo copy documents. The leftover supplies from the outreach effort can always be brought back and stored for future events. I will be recommending three students to Washington State as SCEP applicants.

Submitted by:
Kurencio B. Ngowakl
Program Specialist
USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service
FHB Building, Suite 301
400 Route 8
Mongmong, Guam 96910
671.472.0198 voice
671.472.7288 fax
kurencio.ngowakl@pb.usda.gov

Cc: John H. (Bart) Lawrence, Assist. Dir. Operations PIA-West, Shirley Nakamura, Assist. Dir. Operations PIA-East, Read file.

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