UK Signature Industries Career Fair successfully presents job seekers with opportunities
UK Signature Industries Career Fair successfully presents job seekers with opportunities

Ambition successfully paired with opportunity recently during the annual University of Kentucky Signature Industries Career Fair. On Sept. 25, more than 550 job seekers took advantage of face-to-face time with employers from Kentucky’s signature industries of agribusiness, distillation and equine.
Participants representing 76 different majors across 12 different UK colleges and 12 other universities attended the event. Additionally, 31 alumni or non-student job seekers were on hand to meet with more than 250 representatives of the 77 employers present.
“It is increasingly our responsibility in higher education to introduce our students to the essential skill of networking. Seeing this happen in live form through this event is always a highlight of my career,” said Savannah Robin, event co-organizer and lecturer of career and professional development within the Martin Gatton College of Agriculture, Food and Environment and UK Ag Equine Programs. “There is no better way to build this skill than by practicing it and doing that within the industry they plan to work in.”
UK Ag Equine Programs began a standalone equine career fair in 2009. In 2022, the college’s equine and distillation programs joined forces to provide enhanced career opportunities to Kentucky and regional college students for two of the state’s most recognized industries. This year, an agribusiness emphasis joined the career fair for job seekers and prospective employers to meet.
Ilka Balk, the other co-organizer of the event and associate director of the James B. Beam Institute for Kentucky Spirits, also reflected on the satisfaction in seeing job seekers and prospective employers successfully match up.

“Seeing the students ‘work’ the fair to make the best first impressions and then follow this up with their impressive resumes and accomplishments is truly fantastic to witness,” Balk said. “The students kept our employer representatives busy the entire time, and I am confident this fair is the beginning of many students’ future internships and full-time careers.”
One of the students who took advantage of the face-to-face time, gaining valuable networking experience, industry insight and improved professional skills was Mei Mei Baileys, an equine science and management junior.
“The Kentucky Signature Industries Career Fair was an excellent opportunity to focus my attention to employers from the equine and agribusiness industries. As a junior, being able to have multiple businesses with possible job and internship opportunities in one place allowed me to see what everyone offers in a short time frame,” Baileys said. “Networking is a large part of the equine and agriculture industries, so having the ability to do that was extremely valuable. I now have a better idea of what companies and employers I want to work with in the future.”
That sentiment was echoed by Kennedy Burr, a marketing and agricultural economics senior.
“The Signature Industries Career Fair was filled with employers that showed a genuine interest in the community and prospective applicants from UK,” Burr said. “This event was a great way to network with important companies and get our names into the professional world. I left the fair feeling confident in myself and ready to tackle my future career path.”

For Isaac Downs, a senior business management major with an international business minor, who is also enrolled in the distilling wine and brewing sciences certificate, attending the fair helped him explore multiple positions he’s interested in after graduating.
“Seeing Kentucky's biggest industries made me proud to be from Kentucky and excited to see what they hold for me,” Downs said. “Going to the career fair was extremely helpful in kickstarting the postgrad job search and meeting professionals in the industry I aspire to work in.”
Aslihan Spaulding, chair of the Department of Agricultural Economics was impressed by the number of students and employers that participated.
“It was great to see the representatives from the agribusiness industry engaging with our exceptional students, fostering meaningful conversations about career prospects, internships and academic paths. I was particularly impressed by the significant number of freshman students who attended the fair,” Spaulding said.
Buffalo Trace Distillery, under Sazerac, has been a longtime participant of UK’s fair. According to Nick Eimers, distillery assistant manager and UK alum, the company continues to participate because they’ve found a lot of great job candidates at the fair.
“We really enjoy meeting people in person,” Eimers said. “Doing interviews over Zoom calls is always a good option but actually meeting people in person and getting a first impression, going through their experiences and what their desires are long term in their careers, it just all kind of works.”
A representative from Farm Credit Mid America, the event lunch and student resource room sponsor, echoed that sentiment.
We decided to participate again this year because we are a rural lender and financier and we know that UK produces really good quality students and they have a really good program here,” Joshua Southerling, HR generalist, who is also a UK alum, said. “It just makes sense for us to be involved and engaged in the students here with the university.”

Becky Gilchrist, educational coordinator, and Jen Zimmerman, event coordinator, both from Spy Coast Farm, stressed the importance of connections in building a career.
“Every job I’ve ever had has led from one into the other, so it’s great to connect at these kinds of events,” Gilchrist said. “We attend this fair because we find great candidates for our internship program as well as employees. We have employees on the farm that are UK graduates as well.”
Zimmerman, a UK equine alum, was shared as a case in point.
“I think the career fair is really a special moment for all of us to get together because there are so many alumni at this event. I'm glad that we're all wearing alumni stickers today. I was at this career fair as a student only two years ago and I was very intimidated to go and start talking to employers,” Zimmerman said. “But seeing that alumni sticker that somebody went through the program that I went through is really easy to start the conversation with. You know, you have a mutual connection. So really try and network with alumni.”
To learn more about the Kentucky Signature Industries Career Fair, visit https://events.mgcafe.uky.edu/events/2025/kentucky-signature-industries-career-fair.
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Writer: Holly Wiemers, holly.wiemers@uky.edu
The Martin-Gatton College of Agriculture, Food and Environment is an Equal Opportunity Organization with respect to education and employment and authorization to provide research, education information and other services only to individuals and institutions that function without regard to economic or social status and will not discriminate on the basis of race, color, ethnic origin, national origin, creed, religion, political belief, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy, marital status, genetic information, age, veteran status, physical or mental disability or reprisal or retaliation for prior civil rights activity.
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