I went to a job fair for Penn students (primarily graduating seniors and those looking for internships) at the UC Sheraton 2 years ago. I had just moved back to the area and was looking for a job. There wasn't much for me there -most of the companies were from NY (with Penn grads who took Amtrak in for the day to recruit). Probably the only local companies that I can remember were Lockheed Martin, Synygy, and I think Cigna. I work in the advertising/design industry, so this was completely useless to me.

I think a Philadelphia job fair (geared towards university students) would be great. (I've been to some of the other general local job fairs, and they seemed a bit too large, impersonal, and probably would be overwhelming if not useless to a college student)

I had left the region to go to college in New England, but I found a nice job in Philadelphia three months after graduating and coming back here. In center city, just where I had wanted. There was no one recruiting in New England for jobs in Philadelphia, and I had no contacts after being away so long, but it worked out for me.

Reverse brain drain?

:roll:

Anyone know where Philly grads are moving to? Out West, South, NYC?

I don't think it's a big deal that UPenn Wharton grads don't stay in Philadelphia. It's a private university, and many of their students aren't even from Philadelphia.

I'd worry more about retaining Temple and West Chester University grads. These are public institutions where most students attending are from the area, and the colleges are using PA state funds to operate them.

bunni

wharton grads leaving is more a reflection of philadelphia's lack of its own banks, financial institutions, etc. it is a big deal that almost none stay. is it everything? no. they will stay when the city has become more business friendly. it is improtant to retain temple students but west chester? ;-)
it is also important to attract outsiders. this is done by having companies that actively recruit elsewhere. whiel you may have found a job, many don't.

How about Drexel grads? They are having a large career fiar on campus today. Of the students I have talked to who went they did not remember seeing any businesses that are actually located in the city, but a lot from the region. These were engineering grads; however, there used to be offices in the city for GE that I believe housed their aerospace engineering department but I believe they moved out to Malvern or KOP (just like every other business).

But again the main point is that most of the businesses that hire college grads have left the city because of the business taxes and the wage tax (it makes their entry level offers seem low therefore they had to pay more to retain top talent).

__________________
"If you have the courage to begin, you have the courage to succeed." -- David Viscott

Re: Drexel Job Fair

There are, in fact, lots of engineering firms and A/E firms here in the city. All hire Drexel graduates. I was with a good sized regional consulting engineer (for nearly 12 years), located here in the city. We were the engineers for the Convention Center, much of Children's Hospital, PA Hospital, Hahnemann (Tenet), Regional Performing Arts Center, and others as well as for most of the major pharnaceutical firms (lab work), some colleges and universities (again, high end lab work) and clients outside of the area (The Johns Hopkins Hospital, Duke Medical Center, Georgetown University Medical Center, etc.).

We used Drexel students during the coop programs and we hired them after they had graduated. I don't remember anyone ever pushing us to go to a job fair or to hire on-site at Drexel.

It seems to me that someone (perhaps out of Dept. of Commerce or out of Innovation Philadeophia, or somewhere) should be getting the local firms and getting them onto the campuses). While I agree with Eldondre that many firms have left, the fact is that there are still a huge number of firms of all sorts -finance, banks, legal, publishing, who call Philadelphia (city) home.

Too often, the organizations here in Philadelphia just seem to pay "lip service" to the aims and produce pretty reports and web sites. When it comes time to get down to the "nitty gritty," they are lacking the will or the way.

Chris,

Is that firm still located in the city??? Just curious. Most of the companies that come to the fair are very large like Boeing, Raytheon, Bechtel, ATK, Lockheed, etc. Just anectdotal but I can look into how many of the companies that came are actually in the city. Also I think that students are more likely to not look into working int he city after they do a co-op in the city and find out about the economic realities of the city wage tax (why take an offer that is 4.5% lower than a competitor's offer?)

__________________
"If you have the courage to begin, you have the courage to succeed." -- David Viscott

Rob:

yes, still at 17th and Wood.

After a bad patch, (firm reduced its size), it has come back somewhat. But, its still in the building. We bought it from CCK (architects) in the mid 90's. Didn't ask the city for anything, either.

Rob sez:

Actually, we never had any real problem recruiting Drexel students after coop. We only had a few openings each year and filled them mainly with people who had done coops from Drexel or Penn State. While I was marketing person, we grew from 40 people to more than 100 with offices in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Durham.

But because we didn't hire on a project basis (we tended to work much more on a client basis), we didn't have the sort of turnover that places like Ballinger has - grow real big, shrink down, grow again, etc.

Course when the s@@t hit the fan, the firm almost went out of business because of it's heavy reliance on high tech healthcare and lab work. I was gone by then.[/i]

I think there is a lot of potential in Philly because there is a lot of unused industrial space in places like North Philly and American Street. Hey, it's close to I-95 and would be attractive for cheap real estate space. Also our waterfront in the Northeast is in dire need of development. If you cross any of the major bridges in the Northeast, Philly looks like garbage. I would give tax breaks and encourage government redevlopment of these areas. That's why I'm voting Joe Torsella for the House and Joe Hoeffel for Senate. They are trying to secure funding for the waterfront which would help the Northeast tremendously.

This is so true. The view is awful and all that riverfront property has so much potential. Smart use of the riverfront up here could really make the Northeast take off and benefit the city as a whole. What are Torsella and Hoeffel proposing specifically?