Boosting Careers, Building Community
BU seeks local hires at job fair
As one of the largest employers in the city, Boston University currently has more than 350 jobs available on the Charles River and Medical Campuses and at Boston Medical Center. The University is looking to the local community to fill some of those spots.
An all-BU job fair is being held tomorrow on the Medical Campus, with employment and training specialists on hand to discuss the open positions with the area’s unemployed and underemployed. The last all-BU job fair was held in 2005 and drew more than 400 people interested in what BU had to offer.
“The job fair is intended for people in the local community — people at all skill levels, from entry level to middle manager to supervisor,” says Thomas Bagarella, manager of employment and training in the Charles River Campus Office of Human Resources.
The job openings span all levels of research, technical, administrative, clerical, and general positions, from lab animal caretakers to department directors. Publicity for the fair has focused on local community newspapers and organizations. “The CEO of Goodwill actually knew we had a job fair coming up,” says Carla Richards, director of community relations at the School of Medicine.
“The job fair is unprecedented in that it brings the various HR departments into one BU,” Richards says. “It’s kind of like one-stop shopping for folks looking for positions on campus.” She anticipates that the job fair will become an annual event.
In addition, representatives from CityLab Academy, BU’s nine-month biomedical science training program, will be present.
“We will be there as a community outreach effort to include the community in our job training program,” says Connie Phillips, CityLab Academy director and a MED research assistant professor of biochemistry. The CityLab program provides free education and training for laboratory jobs in biotechnology and the biomedical sciences to accepted Boston residents with a high school diploma. Students take Metropolitan College biomedical courses with BU undergraduates, receive tutoring, and are mentored by a graduate student. CityLab graduates earn 12 credits from MET and are often hired by BU and local biomedical firms.
The job fair will be held on Thursday, January 25, from 4 to 7 p.m. in the Hiebert Lounge, 14th floor, 80 East Concord St. In case of inclement weather, the fair moves to February 1 at the same time and place. Free parking is available in the 710 Albany Street Garage.
Catherine Santore can be reached at csantore@bu.edu.