The Career Center’s Fall Career Expo is coming up on September 29th, and in order to help you prepare, we’re running a series called “10 Days of Expo.” Each day until 9/29 we’ll discuss helpful tips and information, along with some featured employers that will be in attendance. Today, our Career Events Manager, Sally, talks about how this is a great time to kick off your job or internship search.
I walked around the Union today try to scope out some extra space for The Career Center’s Fall Career Expo…it’s going to be huge! As the person who plans The Career Center’s events, needing more space is a great problem to have! I love that our employer attendance is up this year (almost 90 organizations) and I’m excited about all the amazing job/internship opportunities for students!
As a student attending the Expo, I hope you’re excited too. But I also know you might feel a little overwhelmed. You’ve only been back on campus a couple of weeks and we’re asking you to get your resume together, prepare to introduce yourself to potential employers, and think about jobs and internships.
And you’re right – the Expo is early and it can be overwhelming. There’s really no way around it. However, there are a couple things I’ve learned from chatting with recruiters that might help make it a more exciting and less overwhelming experience for you.
Stryker, Oak Ridge National Lab, MATCH Corp and the other 80+ organizations are coming to see you! Organizations don’t recruit at every university/college. They are very selective in their recruiting efforts, choosing maybe 5-7 (or less) schools to visit each year. They come because they believe Michigan students, whether through academics, extracurricular and/or volunteer experiences, have something unique to bring to their organization. And, they’re specifically coming to The Career Center event because they’re open to meeting a variety of majors for a range of positions.
This doesn’t mean that you can walk through Expo on the MGoBlue spirit alone. You’ll still want to do some preparation (check out the list of attending organizations and their job descriptions), however, you can approach an employer table with confidence knowing that the recruiters are eager to meet you.
When we say “kick off your job/internship search at Expo,” we mean it. Fall Expo is the real thing and truly a great way to start your job/internship activities. For organizations like Capital One, Target, and about 30 others, it’s their first step in screening resumes/candidates for interviews at The Career Center later in the semester. And, for about 60% of the Expo employers, this is their first and only visit to campus. They use the Expo to collect resumes and screen candidates for the next step in their hiring process. They may “just” refer you to their website to submit an application, but rest assured they’re attending this event because they want to meet candidates. Believe me — if they only wanted website applications they wouldn’t attend. While you won’t walk away from Expo with a job or internship offer in hand, it’s your opportunity to kick-off your search by meeting recruiters face-to-face and by making a lasting impression.
[...] and information, along with some featured employers that will be in attendance (here’s the day one post in case you missed it). Today, our Career Events Manager, Sally, talks about who should attend [...]
[...] tips and information, along with some featured employers that will be in attendance (here’s the day one and day two posts in case you missed them). Today, our Career Events Manager, Sally, explains why [...]