Prepping for the first steps of your career
Maggie Knutte, a senior in journalism, is a newswriter for the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences. She recently attended a "Career Fair Jumpstart" event through LAS Career Services—she shares her experience below.
Career fairs are very important for college students to decide what they want their future to look like. That’s why the College of LAS held the Career Lab: Career Fair Jumpstart event earlier this fall to prepare students for the Gies College of Business Career Fair, and career fairs after that.
When I walked into the event at the LAS Career Services office in Gregory Hall, I immediately saw students working with mentors at tables. LAS Career Services staff were speaking to groups of small students and working one on one with students to prepare them for applying to jobs.
There were several students at tables any given time, with more coming in or leaving throughout the event. Many students were very focused, taking notes and asking the mentors questions.
The career fair readiness workshop was divided into three stations. Group 1 was focused on updating resumes. I witnessed several very engaged students work directly with a staff member to improve their resumes.
Kirstin Wilcox, director of LAS Career Services, was working with students along with Julia Panke Makela, senior director of LAS Career Services. Students worked strong verbs into their resumes to make them active and organized their skills by looking at what employers are seeking in a candidate.
Kim Corbin, assistant director for employer connections and community outreach, lead group 2. She focused on talking to recruiters, such as improving your elevator pitch and asking them questions. When creating your elevator pitch, it’s important to keep it concise, but also include unique things about yourself to make you memorable to recruiters. A tip is to make sure you research a company before talking to a recruiter, so that you can ask thoughtful questions.
Group 3 was general preparation help for the career fair. Topics focused on what to expect and why students should go. Julie Higgs, career advisor, also covered what to bring and how to dress along with following up after talking to recruiters.
At the event, I learned a lot just by listening to other students working with and asking questions to the mentors. I picked up tips such as following up with a very specific thank you note after speaking with a recruiter, so they can remember you and set you apart from other students.
Another important tip is to take advantage of LinkedIn to create connections with those in the same field as you. Creating a presence on your profile exposes you to potential recruiters who can see what you are doing.
I spoke with two students about their experience at the fair. Noah Boyer-Edwards is a freshman and found the workshop to be very helpful. He said he felt more confident after working with staff on his professional skills. “I think it helped me to revise my resume, my pitch and expectations,” said Boyer-Edwards. “I’d like to attend a career fair; I think Illinois has robust career fairs and provide access to students.”
Daniel Gerbasi, a junior, planned to attend the Gies career fair after the workshop. He wants to become a financial analyst, and said he visited LAS Career Services to figure out how to do that. “It helped me a lot with my resume, and I will apply that to career fair today and in the future,” said Gerbasi.
Overall, the event appeared to give students more confidence and preparation before they headed off to the career fair. LAS Career Services said will hold more events like this in the future after the success of the past workshop. The next Career Lab event for this semester is on Friday, December 13, from 12:30-2:30 p.m. It is a resume workshop, titled ‘ResuMANIA!’. You can register for this event on Handshake.