Spring Job Fair returns to MHS after three-year ‘pandemic pause’

Students get opportunities to apply for jobs, receive information about a variety of post-high school options

  Some students walked out of there with instant job offers in their back pockets. Others left with plenty to talk about with their parents and friends regarding exciting ideas to consider regarding their futures.

  The Malden High School Spring Job Fair returned to Salem Street in full force on Tuesday, and Malden Public Schools Director of Guidance Erin Craven could not have been happier. “It was a great day for both our students and representatives who came today to interact directly with them,” Craven said, after the event. “We were very pleased we were able to hold this event here at the high school for the first time in a while.”

  The event was held in partnership between the Malden Public Schools Guidance Department and the MassHire Metro North Workforce Board. The Metro North Workforce Board oversees the MassHire Metro North Career Centers that provide customer-centered job search assistance to enable individuals to meet their training and employment goals. Grace Evans, Youth Programs Specialist at MassHire, was on hand for Tuesday’s event as well.

  The return of the MHS Job Fair on Tuesday was the first time the event had been held since the spring of 2019. It was actually the first schoolwide event victim of the COVID-19 pandemic, which was declared in mid-March of 2020. Malden schools were closed for in-person learning for what turned out to be the remainder of the 2019-2020 school year on March 13, 2020. That year’s Job Fair had been planned for early April, but was abruptly cancelled, along with many other school events and functions, due to the pandemic.

  Last spring in 2021, students began returning to in-person classes rather than virtual learning in mid-March, with the determination it was still not safe to hold in-person events, such as the Job Fair. A mini-Job Fair was held this past fall of 2021, but Tuesday’s event marked the full return of the “real McCoy” for the students and career choice vendors.

  On Tuesday, some 25 vendors were on hand to recruit students as new employees. The job opportunities were aplenty and job offers ready in real time for the hundreds of students who took the time to visit The Gallery section of MHS, which was set up for the event.

  MHS junior Justin Bell, who is co-captain of the Malden High boys’ basketball team, signed up for an interview with a representative of Old Navy, whose closest store is in the Gateway Center shopping mall alongside Santilli Circle in Everett, just over the Everett-Medford-Malden city line confluence near Wellington Circle. “I am looking for a job this spring, and having all of these people right here in the school made it easy for me to get to look around and talk to them,” the MHS junior said.

  In addition to reps from stores like Old Navy and others on hand, there were also tables for other prospective employers, like Wegmans supermarket of Medford, Legoland of Assembly Row, Kelly’s Roast Beef in Wellington Circle, Gentle Giant Moving Company and many more. All of them said there were many job opportunities available for students. “We are ready to hire right now,” said a representative of Kelly’s Roast Beef of Wellington Circle. “If a student needs a job, they should seek us out.”

  A representative of Somerville-based Gentle Giant Movers said his company had a “great track record employing Malden High students, particularly former student-athletes” in the past, adding that Gentle Giant would like to continue that trend.

  Also on hand were representatives of many of the military service branches as well as several college and junior college representatives.

  “It was a very good mix of employers looking to hire students right now and also plenty of information and people to talk to regarding our students’ future plans for after high school,” MPS Director of Guidance Craven said.

  The MHS Career Fair has been going on for some seven years, Craven said. She has been coordinating the event this year and the last time it was held, ever since was appointed MPS Director of Guidance. She took over for Kelly Colomb, a longtime MHS staff member, who formerly coordinated the event.

  Craven said that in previous years as many as 50-plus vendors took part in the event. “It was great to get so many of the vendors back for the return of this event,” Craven said. “It will continue to grow in the future.”

  In addition to singular events such as the Job Fair, there is full guidance counselor staff on hand for all Malden High School students to help navigate both plans for post-high school as well as course selection for each year of their high school experience. Also, there is additional staff on hand at MHS specifically to assist students in pursuing jobs for afterschool and weekend hours. Regularly, this school year also welcomed the return of special visits and presentation tables outside the lunchtime cafeterias by military branch reps all year round.

  “We are ready to help our students every day by assessing their needs and assisting them in planning for their future,” Craven said.

  For more information on services and resources available through the Malden Public Schools Guidance Department, contact Director Erin Craven at ecraven@maldenps.org.

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  The MassHire Metro North Workforce Board provides one-on-one and group work-readiness and career development guidance to youths ages 14–24 who live in the Metro North Region. Some of the services they offer:

• Career and Education Assessments that help solidify your future: Job Search Tips that help get you noticed, job application guidance that helps to put your application in the YES pile, Résumé and Cover Letter Writing assistance to help you catch an employer’s attention.
• Interview Preparation and Mock Interviews to help you interview with confidence.

  For more information on MassHire and the Metro North Workforce Board, contact Grace Evans at gevans@masshiremetronorth.org.