February 23, 2023- If you asked some of the hundreds of job seekers that crowded into the Millikin Commons Thursday if they expected to be needing a Career Fair, they would tell you no. Only a few short days ago, many believed they were securely employed at one of the two Akorn Pharmaceuticals locations in Decatur. But that changed Wednesday, when Akron Pharmaceuticals announced it had filed for Chapter 7 and promptly fired all staff.
The 2023 Millikin Spring Career Fair, hosted by Millikin’s Center for Academic and Professional Performance was initially open all Millikin students and alumni, but in the light of the closures at Akorn affecting nearly 450 people, Millikin pivoted the event to step up and help.
Carrie Pierson, the Dean of Academic Support Services for Millikin University said when the news broke about the closure, they quickly worked with admissions to open the event to those affected. “Millikin is a community and we love to support our community. The Akorn building was literally within 2 blocks of our campus and we at Millikin really pride ourselves on working with the community we call home.”
The career fair was set to host around 50 Central Illinois employers, but with the news of the Akorn closure, Pierson said they quickly shifted to allow more participants to join. Pierson noted that at 11:30am, 30 minutes before the Career Fair was to open, former Akorn employees were already lining up outside. “I always tell my students that if you are on-time, you are already late and these employees from Akron clearly demonstrated they are ready to work. They would be the first that I would hire!”
Tyrone White, a former Akorn maintenance tech for 3 years said they were all taken by surprise by the closing Wednesday. “We didn’t know what to expect when we were called into a meeting. Were we going to get a raise or something? They just said they wanted to talk to us as a whole. I mean, there were hiring signs outside of the building! We didn’t think our jobs were in jeopardy.” White soon found out that no raises were coming. He picked up one of the papers notices provided moments before the meeting, telling him everyone was terminated.
“With a skilled trade, I’m going to be able to survive this storm and land on my feet, but some of my brothers and sisters at Akorn aren’t going to be as lucky. This event has been really important to them.”
Josh Hinkelman, former senior manager of operations and Akorn, was also at the Millikin Career Fair. “It really just dropped on our heads. But the support of this community has been phenomenal. Even the small things..for example, I went to get a haircut ahead of this career fair this morning and they told me it was free. The support has just been overwhelming.”
