GIA Jewelry Career Fair & Open House slated on October 9

As part of its annual Jewelry Career Fair & Open House, GIA will be open to receiving public entry on October 9 at its Carlsbad, CA world headquarters. This is the one time during a year when GIA’s campus is open to the public without appointment; apart from being a free visit to all guests and job seekers.

The event will include almost 30 companies scouting for job seekers in positions from retail to design and manufacturing. Job seekers can interact with a career coach specializing in their field of interest, on a one-to-one basis.

A finely curated selection of nearly 200 works of jewelry and objet d’art by 40 members of the American Jewelry Design Council (AJDC) that make up the Institute’s featured exhibition, “Variations on a Theme: 25 Years of Design from the AJDC,” will be on display. This apart, the guests can also view the world’s largest gemological library, home to the Cartier Rare Book Repository; take in gem and jewelry education demos such as GIA’s Jewelry Design & Technology program; and hear from notable personalities in the jewelry industry including award-winning designers, innovative entrepreneurs and top executives. Amongst the panel discussions to be held will include:

“Job Success in Today’s Market” moderated by Susan M. Jacques, president and CEO of GIA with panellists - Dave Bindra, vice President of B & B Fine Gems; Jose Hess, president of Jose Hess Design, LLC; Douglas Hucker, CEO of AGTA; and Jordan Tabach-Bank, owner and CEO of Beverly Loan Company and New York Loan Company

“From Design to Finish” moderated by Victoria Gomelsky, editor-in-chief of JCK magazine. With a line-up of all-AJDC members, panelists include Susan Helmich, owner of Susan Helmich Fine Jewelry; Scott Keating, designer, goldsmith and owner of Scott Keating Design, Inc.; Pascal Lacroix, jewelry designer/master goldsmith at Atelier Pascal Lacroix; Adam Neeley, gallery owner and designer at Adam Neeley Fine Art Jewelry; and Alan Revere, founder and director of Revere Academy of Jewelry Arts in San Francisco.

“Creative Careers” moderated by Mark Smelzer, publisher of JCK magazine and JCKonline.com. Panelists are Tim Adams, art historian and historical goldwork scholar; Michael Good, jewelry designer and sculptor at Michael Good Designs; Au-Co Mai, CEO of Emitations.com and CrummyBunny.com; and Randi Molofsky, co-founder of For Future Reference.