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Jewelry’s Largest Recruiting Event Lures Next-Gen Talent

Published

8 years ago

August 1, 2016

GIA’s Jewelry Career Fair draws 600.

The Gemological Institute of America’s Jewelry Career Fair, held July 25 at the Javits Center in New York, drew 600 people as it provided a forum for job-seekers to meet with 42 companies looking to fill open positions and 24 career coaches with specialized expertise.

Rahul Kadakia, a GIA graduate and the international head of jewelry for Christie’s who got his start with the auction house at a GIA Career Fair in 1994, kicked off the opening panel “Job Success in Today’s Market” with video footage of the record-setting $57.6 million sale of the Oppenheimer Blue diamond, where he served as auctioneer. “People are realizing more and more the rarity of rare jewels and gems,” he told the audience, encouraging job seekers to stay on top of market trends.

Martin Rapaport, chairman of the Rapaport Group, rounded out the panel with sage advice for job seekers based on his decades of experience in the industry. Following a question and answer period, job seekers had the opportunity to meet with the 42 companies recruiting for talent and speak with one of the career coaches specializing in various fields of interest.

The event marks the 25th anniversary of GIA’s Jewelry Career Fair, which was founded in 1991 in Santa Monica, CA. The next event will take place in Carlsbad, CA on Friday, Oct. 7. For more details, visit gia.edu/career-fair or email careerfair@gia.edu.

Looking for a Seamless Sale? Call Wilkerson

After almost 60 years in business, Breakiron Jewelers in Erie, Pennsylvania, was closing its doors. And the store’s owner, Linda Breakiron, was ready for it. She had run the store as its sole owner since the beginning of the millennium and was looking forward to a change. Of course, she called Wilkerson. Breakiron talked to other jewelers who had used Wilkerson and was satisfied with their response. “They always had positive feedback,” she recalls. With the sales, marketing and even additional inventory that Wilkerson provided, Breakiron insists she could never have accomplished her going-out-of-business sale without Wilkerson’s help. She’s now ready for the journey ahead, but looking back, she’d be sure to recommend Wilkerson. “They just made the whole process very seamless.”