“Anyone who talks to me, I’m going to give all the advice I can,” Carr said, as he greeted students at the Traveler’s table at the University’s Giant Career and Internship Fair. Nearly 100 companies, organizations, and non-profits filled the Chase Arena, giving students an opportunity to make industry connections that will help them be career ready after graduation.
“This year, we’re looking to hire about 8,000 people,” said Scott Richardson, an engineering supervisor with General Dynamics, Electric Boat. While his company is known as a place for engineers, Richardson was quick to point out that a wide range of UHart students might be a good fit there. “We’ve seen a couple of people specifically for supply chain,” he said. “We get a lot of finance and business majors.”
The employers ran the gamut from firms such as CVS, Hartford HealthCare, and the Cigna Group, to smaller family-owned businesses, to government and law enforcement agencies from the FBI to state and local police departments, to entertainment and hospitality companies like Mohegan Sun and Ben & Jerry’s. Students were also able to have professional headshots taken.
Even a start-up music school was represented: Musicologie, from Glastonbury, Connecticut. “We're especially looking for piano teachers, vocal teachers and orchestra,” said community manager Hillary Rosshirt. “Orchestral strings like viola, violin. But eventually, I would love to provide every instrument that we possibly can.”
At a time when many students are focused on career outcomes and the value of a college education, the University of Hartford builds career readiness into the student experience from day one—and career fairs are just the beginning. Events like Career Exploration Day take students out of the classroom and allow them to explore the industries that interest them, while Career to Classroom events bring representatives of those industries to them.
Other events focus on skills that aren’t learned in a classroom but are just as valuable. UHart’s annual Professional Etiquette Dinner allows students to practice the essentials of conducting professional conversations over a four-course meal. UHart alumni and industry professionals also participate, giving students the opportunity to make meaningful connections in their chosen fields.
Employers said those “soft skills” can make UHart students stand out. “For someone straight out of college, naturally they’re not going to have any professional experience outside of maybe internships,” said Richardson. “So the biggest thing is their ability to communicate, their ability to display their knowledge, what they learned in school and how to apply it, and just hold the conversation.”
Carr agreed: “Confidence. How they present themselves. Asking the right questions. Showing the intellectual curiosity we always encourage.”
Another important quality is curiosity, said recent UHart alumnus Dominik Femiak ’26, now a mechanical consultant at Van Zelm Engineers. “We look for people that are committed, that want to learn, that are energetic and outgoing,” he said. “When you enter this field, we’re not expecting you to know everything. The number one characteristic that we look at is the willingness to learn.”