IBPSA-USA

IBPSA-USA 2023 Virtual Career Fair Success

IBPSA-USA 2023 Virtual Career Fair Success

About the IBPSA-USA Virtual Career Fair

On April 14th, 2023, IBPSA-USA hosted its first-ever National Virtual Career Fair! This exciting new opportunity was held to connect candidates with potential employers for careers in simulation and analysis in the built environment, emphasizing energy, carbon, water, and indoor environmental quality. The event took place in an interactive, animated, and completely virtual platform, offering the unique opportunity to meet with employers from all around the country. Career fair exterior (1)

Who organized this event?

This career fair was organized by the Emerging Professionals and Students of IBPSA-USA (EPSI). EPSI is a group aiming to serve and bring together IBPSA-USA members with less than 5 years of experience in the building performance industry. This group strives to connect aspiring and early career-building performance analysts and others to industry resources, provide insights about IBPSA-USA groups, events, and leadership roles, and facilitate a comfortable and safe platform to network and share resources with peers. The 2023 Virtual Career Fair is one of the many educational events organized by EPSI that gear toward member interests. Screenshot 2023-05-11 at 1.42.16 PM

Why hold or attend a virtual career fair?

As young professionals enter the field of building performance and simulation, it can be hard to find the right opportunity due to varying job titles and types of organizations. It is important to provide these professionals with resources to identify their options so that employers and candidates can find a mutual best fit. This was the idea behind a building performance-specific career fair, where employers could showcase the work they do, and candidates could gain an understanding of what types of opportunities this industry offers. This virtual career fair was held to benefit students and job seekers by helping them better understand the job search process, enhance networking opportunities, and allow them to connect with recruiters from top employers to set up 1:1 sessions. This career fair also served as a platform for employers to showcase their brands and exhibit their services to a wide audience. By participating in this event, employers received access to a nationwide pool of job candidates and the opportunity to network with other industry professionals. Career fair lobby (1)

Career Fair Results

Starting with the welcome and opening session, employers and candidates communicated through both personal chats and 1:1 video calls. Flexible timings allowed employers to divide their time to be at the booth based on their schedule, and candidates could attend the event at any point throughout the day without missing any other important classes or meetings on their calendars. A total of 28 employers exhibited and 88 interested students and professionals attended the 2023 IBPSA-USA Virtual Career Fair to network and explore a wide range of job opportunities. Employer booths were visited 2,238 times by young professionals across the country and over 300 job applications were submitted during this 8-hour event. One attendee of the IBPSA-USA career fair had this to say after the event: “Thank you, Jayati Chhabra and Rashmi Baliga [and EPSI] for putting together the virtual IBPSA-USA Career Fair 2023 through the vFairs platform. I had fun attending it today. I visited 8 employer booths to connect about internships in future summers and down the line for full-time. All the employees I talked to seconded the fact that building performance and energy modeling is a niche industry and most companies/firms have a small dedicated team with some offices having 1 to no energy modelers on staff.” green engineer Due to the resounding success of the Career Fair, IBPSA-USA intends to make this an annual event. If you missed the event and want to ensure you know about it next time, please reach out to epsi@ibpsa.us.

We look forward to seeing everyone again next year!