Career Services will be holding a Career EXPO Job Fair at the Jack B. Kelley Legacy Hall on Feb. 28 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The Career EXPO is an opportunity for students to talk to prospective employers about full time jobs and internships.
Assistant Director of Career Services Kim Muller, who has coordinated the Career EXPO for 16 years, said these job fairs bring a lot of anticipation and they hope for a great turnout of both students and employers.
“The students evaluate the event when they leave and the employers evaluate the event [as well],” Muller said. “When I read the evaluations [after each Career EXPO], they consistently get better and the students are being praised. It’s heartwarming to have people brag on our students and how well-prepared they are.”
Muller said that while the Career EXPO is a great opportunity for seniors to search for jobs, it is also encouraged for juniors and underclassmen to attend the event and to continue to engage with Career Services to build their professional profiles.
“While I cannot guarantee them a job,” she said, “if students will get involved with us early and intern and network, if you know people before you leave, [students] will increase [their] chances exponentially.”
Experiential Education Coordinator Steve Sellars said that while it does not happen all the time, engaging and conversing with employers at the Career EXPO could possibly allow students to garner employment almost immediately.
“A lot of times, those conversations turn into interviews,” Sellars said. “We have some employers that will interview people [for positions] right after the Career EXPO. They will arrange a time and say, ‘Come back later this afternoon.’ There’s no promise of that or guarantee of that happening, but it does happen a lot.”
Sellars said he believes students should attend the Career EXPO even if they believe they don’t see an employer that will offer a job that pertains to their specific major.
“I’d still encourage [students] to come,” he said. “You never know what somebody might be looking for. I tell students – I have been to a lot of Career EXPOs – at virtually every Career EXPO I will learn something new or I’ll think, ‘Oh really? You have this job at this company?’ Sometimes [employers] will be looking for a position that you’d never thought of.”
Barbara Zellers, assistant to the director for Career & Counseling Services, said students should dress professionally, be fully prepared to ask questions and showcase themselves to the estimated 60 employers that will be present.
“CMMS (Connor McMillon Mitchell & Shennum), a marketing firm, had a recruiter [at a previous Career EXPO],” Zellers said, “and the advice she was giving the students was, ‘You need to come talk to me whether you’re an accounting major or not. It’s not just accountants that run a marketing business.’ I thought that was the best advice.”
“Come prepared with questions and just ask a lot of them,” she said. “If you don’t know what you want to do in your major, you can ask [the employers], ‘I’m thinking about majoring in psychology… what job opportunities do you have in your company?’”
