The prospect of meeting with potential employers can be stressful for students, but with a little help, the task might not be so daunting.
Career Services is hosting a series of workshops this week to help students prepare for spring career days.
The topics tend to stay focused on having a strong résumé, being prepared to be interviewed and presenting themselves to potential employers, said Christina MacGill, associate director for outreach programming and information.
Employers will present most of the workshops, and Career Services will present the rest. Employers love to do workshops because they can see how engaged and interested students are, said Sherry Rice, programming graduate assistant for Career Services.
Brooks Renoll, a university relations recruiter for Dick’s Sporting Goods and workshop presenter, led a workshop before the fall career days.
“The experience was great,” he said via email. “I was pleasantly surprised by the number of students who took time out of their day to attend the presentation.”
This week, Renoll will present the Résumé Tips for Non-Technical Majors workshop on Wednesday.
The résumé is “a part of the ticket to starting a career with a great company,” Renoll said.
But it’s not the only thing a student needs for the fair.
“You also need to be able to speak to your résumé and be able to articulate the key points on the résumé that you feel are your best selling points,” he said.
While the size of the workshops vary, there are usually not more than 80 students, which MacGill said, is nice because it gives students the opportunity to ask questions.
“It’s a great idea to try and attend one of these workshops,” Corinna Fisher, lead career fairs coordinator, said via email. “It’s an excellent way to hear directly from recruiters about what they expect from Penn State students.”
Career Services offers the workshops right before spring career days because students are focusing on them, and so can “really participate” in the workshops, she said.
In addition to the workshops held this week, on March 19, Career Services is hosting “Resumania,” where students can have their résumés reviewed.
Students have about 10 minutes to meet with an employer who will go over their résumé. Each employer has his or her own interview room, and so the meeting is one-on-one, and there will be employers to look over both technical and non-technical résumés, Rice said.
“The more prepared you are, the better you will present yourself to recruiters,” Fisher said. “It is essential to make an outstanding first impression.”
A complete listing of workshops can be found at http://careerfairs.psu.edu/spring/student/workshops.shtml.
