Getting Prepped: Students prepare for Spring Career Fair

The end goal for most college and university students is to get into a job and/or career that is satisfying, enriching, and pays well enough to support a  lifestyle. The first step towards that goal starts while students are in school, in the form of internships and co-ops which, courtesy office of Career Services, can be earned at Southern University’s Spring Career Fair, on Wednesday, 19 February.
For the past month, campus organizations like the National Society of Black Engineers and the Association for Computing Machinery have held resume workshops, Dos and Don’ts and mock interview sessions all to prepare students. Career Services has also been sponsoring their own sessions, both formal and informal, as well as workshops with professionals to educate students on exactly what employers are looking for in resumes and applicates, “You want your resume to highlight cross functional skills that can be used in any work environment, especially for those who lack relevant work experience,” said Cole Ellis, the president of the National Society of Black Engineers.
Career Services also held the “JCPenney Suit Up Event” over the weekend to give students an opportunity to round out their wardrobes in preparation for the career fair. As many students often cite a lack of clothing as the reason for not attending the career fair, Career Services hopes that this event combined with the “Career Clothes Closet” is enough support to give students in need a chance to succeed, “It was great, I was able to get a blue and a black suit for about a hundred dollars,” said sophomore psychology major, Malcolm Henry, when asked about the “JCPenney Suit Up Event.”
The career fair is what each student makes of it. Director of Career Services, Tamara Foster-Montgomery, has often said that students “need to take ownership of their journey during their matriculation at Southern University” and part of that includes preparing to succeed professionally. The career fair is often times the only opportunity that students get to talk directly to hiring managers from Fortune 500 companies so a student would be remised to not attend. 
Students who want to attend the career fair, but feel that they are unprepared should visit subr.edu and search for the career services tab. There, students can find sample resumes, sample business cards, and examples of business professional clothing for men and women as well as interviewing tips. It’s never too late to get ready and a small change can be the difference between getting the interview and not, “I’ve done everything I can to get myself ready, mock interviews, resume critiques, business cards, I’m as prepared as I can be, so I feel confident,” said junior, mechanical engineering major Johnny Lopez.
 They can also download the Career Services app, available on  most mobile devices, for more info.

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Southern University students shop at the "Suit-Up" event at JCPenny hosted by SU Career Services on Sunday, February 16 (Tiffany Williams/DIGEST)