This post may be a bit tardy, but since I haven’t seen enough other people do it, I’m going to take this opportunity give kudos and thanks to the National Technical Institute for the Deaf at RIT for its annual job fair held October 14, 2009. It was a first-class event; well organized and executed. I particularly appreciated the hospitality of John Macko, the Director of NTID’s Center on Employment. Notwithstanding all of the work he and his staff were engaged in to ensure the fair was a success, John still found a way to be a most hospitable host.

It was, of course, great to see the numerous federal and state government agencies represented at the fair. But what was particularly impressive to me was the number of private sector employers who participated. It was fun to see big names like Bank of New York Mellon, Eli Lilly & Co., IBM, ITT, Microsoft and Raytheon competing for talent even in a tough economy.

But it quickly became clear to me why they were there when I interviewed two outstanding candidates for potential positions at NexTalk. I was impressed with background and credentials of both of these students, as well as their people skills. It was treat getting acquainted with. Clearly NTID has an eye for talent. In fact, it may be too good at that for its own good, as shown by its loss of AlanaHurwitz to Gallaudet, which just hired him as its 10th president. But fear not. There are plenty of other equally impressive people at NTID, so look forward to more good things to come!

And for the rest of us, I’d suggest looking at the list of companies supporting great employment opportunities for these students and supporting them with our business. You can find the list by pasting this address into your browser – http://www.ntid.rit.edu/NCE/jobfair_students.php.

Todd D. Wakefield is CEO of NexTalk, Inc. ( http://www.nextalk.com ). He lives in Park City, Utah with his wife of 20 years and four kids.