HANCEVILLE — Employers used a couple of recent career fairs to try and woo potential employees.

“These events give us the opportunity to show students that we are invested in them and helps the students make connections with future employers,” said Annalee Whitman, Recruitment Manager of the University of Alabama in Birmingham School of Nursing during Thursday’s Healthcare Career Fair at Wallace State.

“I love these events,” said Jamie Blackmon, Director of the Center for Career and Workforce Development at WSCC. “It gives our students an opportunity to see that they aren’t necessarily pigeonholed into a career, that there are a myriad of opportunities available for any given trade that the students may not have ever known were there. and it gives us the chance to show off to these businesses that we offer an amazing and high quality product here at WSCC.”

At Tuesday’s Campus Career Fair, employers from a diverse group of industries touted the benefits and perks available.

“This gives us an opportunity to not only widen our recruitment pool, but to talk about how much our company has flipped their perspective over the last five years or so,” said Jaimie Atkinson, representing Walmart Distribution Center. “We offer very flexible schedules and a lot more emphasis is being placed on a healthy work/life balance.”

Officers Vance Summers and Jonathan Macklin were looking for recruits for the Decatur Police Department.

“Most of the time a person’s only interactions with police officers are bad ones, whether it’s getting a traffic ticket or something they’ve seen on TV,” says Summers, “this gives us an opportunity to let them have a positive experience and let them know how our job has progressed recently.”

“Yeah, it lets them engage with a personality and brings a human aspect to our jobs,” added Macklin. “The thing a lot of people don’t realize is that you really have to love people to do this job. Most of these careers have you seeing the same people or clients day in and day out, with us you deal with people of all kinds races and walks of life day in and day out. So you really need to be able to adapt and realize that some people are different than you in order to effectively do this job.”

That more personal interaction is what brought Wallace State nursing student Gracie Otts to Thursday’s event. She said that career fairs serve to break down intimidating barriers between students entering the workforce and potential employers.

“It gives us the chance to see what everyone offers, and to ask those awkward questions that you might not want to bring up in interviews about salary and benefits.”

For jobseeker Ashley Parker, workplace culture was high on her list.

“I’m really looking for how they treat me as a person. They need to have an environment that is inviting. Benefits are important, particularly healthcare, but if an employer treats their employees right I think they will realize it gets them much better results.”