Aliesha Grandison, a college relationship specialist for the Andover-based staffing firm ALKU, keeps returning to Merrimack College’s Professional Development Retreat (PDR) and for good reason.
“Usually, we’re pretty lucky with this fair,” she said. “We had two hires from Merrimack in the past year. The students have a lot of drive and hard work ethic.”
Grandison and ALKU were among the more than 10 companies who participated in the PDR skills fair in the Student Union on Friday, Nov. 15. During the skills fair, Merrimack students network with companies that only reveal their general industry in the hopes students will interact with a company or industry they may not initially consider pursuing professionally. It’s not until after the fair that the companies’ names are revealed.
“We don’t look for specific majors,” Grandison explained. “We hire off of character traits and how hardworking they are.”
PDR is Merrimack’s two-day, on-campus career development conference that assists students in cultivating professional growth and making connections. This year, nearly 70 students attended the conference and heard from alumni panels, learned the art of networking and crafted professional pitches. The sponsors for PDR were James A. Hogue, Jr. ’99 and Elizabeth Yekhtikian and the Deloitte Foundation, Jay Kalil ’03 and Northwestern Mutual – Northern New England, Enterprise Mobility, Gray, Gray & Gray, LLP and Michael J. Loiacano ’95 and Susan E. Loiacano.
Rita Senier-Colletti, a talent acquisition specialist with the accounting firm, Gray, Gray & Gray, LLP, of Canton, visits about 20 schools and she said speaking with Merrimack students is always a pleasure.
“Some of the students here aren’t tied to what we do,” she said, “but I hope to open their eyes and show them what the professional world has to offer.”
Jack Rush ’23 M’24 spoke with students about his job working for the assurance and auditing firm, CohnReznick. It was his first time representing his company at a career fair and he was happy to discuss his path from Merrimack to the professional world.
He was hired immediately after graduating from Merrimack with a master’s degree in accounting and a bachelor’s degree in business administration. The job, he said, introduced him to new experiences and pushed him out of his comfort zone.
“I really enjoy the work environment,” he said of his new job. “I initially sought out working for a smaller firm, but this one’s actually a decent size.”
