Hart School Hosts Career Fair

Above: A Hart School student interacts with a representative from HRI Properties/Hilton of Richmond at the fall Career Fair.

With the conference room at the Hotel Madison bursting at the seams, hospitality, sports and recreation employers turned out to meet students who are looking for internships and job opportunities at the fall Hart School Career and Internship Fair. Only in its third year, the event is already proving to be a success for both students and employers.

Senior hospitality major Allison Leung attended in the spring, and made a connection with Lansdowne Resort and Spa that led to a summer internship. “After the Internship Fair, they emailed me about opportunities they had, and they invited me to their property during spring break. That visit went really well, and I got an internship offer the next day.”

Leung was able to gain a variety of experience through the internship. “I rotated through PBX front, front desk and guest services,” she says. “Throughout the summer, we had a capstone project where we were able to provide feedback on how the hotel could improve in some of their areas. We also had a women and leadership panel that they put together for the interns.”

That success brought her back to the career fair to talk about post-graduation job opportunities with some of the 50 companies and 115 representatives that attended the event.

Many companies send representatives that are JMU alumni who are eager to recruit Dukes. HRI Properties/Hilton of Richmond returned to the event for a second time, after seeing success with their new internship program over the summer. Manager of the Hilton Downtown Richmond Jason Burgos (’06, hospitality/tourism) said, “We got two JMU interns last year and they were amazing, so we're back this year, and only recruiting for JMU for our internship program next year. We're even looking at opening up a winter internship program for those who are graduating in December.”

General Manager with HRI John Cario (’83, hospitality/tourism) pointed to other opportunities as well. “We’re multifaceted and represent about twenty-five properties nationwide,” he said, “and we also have a management and development program at our hotel in Richmond and four other hotels around the country.”