By Madison Rohn, Lead Editor
Cover image of Career Services from 2023’s career fair retrieved from McKendree’s online photo albums.
McKendree’s annual career fair is back and larger than ever! Almost 90 employers and graduate schools will be ready to meet with students at the Hettenhausen Center for the Arts this Valentine’s Day from 11:00 A.M. to 2:00 P.M.
To help students make the best out of their time at the career fair, I interviewed Jennifer Pickerell, the director of Career Services. She gave me helpful advice for students considering going to the fair. In summary, her most helpful piece for students is to “prepare ahead of time.”
Jennifer listed five actions students can do to prepare ahead of time for the fair:
1. RESEARCH!
Knowing which employers you want to talk to can save you time at the career fair. Instead of perusing table after table, a student who researches ahead of time can walk up to the employer they are interested in and speak to them with confidence. All of the employers coming to the fair are listed on Handshake, a career database that can be found on MyMcK or the Career Services webpage.
Jennifer recommended, “You want to get on our Handshake site so that you can view all of the employers, research what they’re looking for, what majors they’re seeking. Try to even get on their website, so then you can find out more about their company, what they’re hiring for, what they stand for. That is definitely important.”
2. Prepare Your Résumé
Another important task to do before the career fair is to have your résumé ready to go. Check to see if your résumé looks professional, has been proofread by others, and is up to date with relevant information.
If you have any questions about your résumé, ask Career Services. Jennifer said, “We can definitely assist [students] in having that résumé ready to go for the career fair.”
3. Practice Your Pitch
A 30-second or one-minute “elevator pitch” can help you introduce yourself to employers and advertise your skills. Consider including your education, work experience, skills, and strengths. Practice your pitch and have it memorized, so you have a ready answer when employers ask you to tell them about yourself.
When forming your pitch, Jennifer said to consider, “You want to be able to talk to the employer about you. So what do you bring to the table? What are you interested in? How can you help them?”
4. Dress to Impress
Presentation matters, especially at a career fair. Career Services advises students coming to the fair to dress professionally. To help with this, Career Services provides students with a few free professional clothing items each year through Bogey’s Career Closet.
“If you don’t have professional clothing, visit Bogey’s Career Closet. So students can reach out to us, just at careerservices@mckendree.edu for more information, like if they need to know more about the closet, but really just to schedule a time,” Jennifer recommended.
5. Bring a Folder
One item that students should bring to the fair that might get overlooked is a folder. Bringing a folder gives you a place to hold your résumés and any cards or papers you get from employers.
Jennifer advised that students should “invest in a nicer folder or possibly a padfolio” because “you can put information from the company’s business cards in it. That always presents nicely.”
After the fair, Jennifer said, “Follow-up is very important. So once you’ve done all that: you’ve done the research, you presented yourself to the employer, you walked around, follow-up with the ones you were interested in once you have those business cards.” Following up with employers can help you be remembered and show your gratitude. Jennifer mentioned using Linkedin or a brief email thanking the employer as ways of following-up.
Even though the idea of talking to many employers in one day may sound stressful, Jennifer guaranteed that going to the fair is worth it. She said that preparing ahead of time is one way to help reduce anxiety about the fair:
“I know that … can cause some anxiety. But the more you’re comfortable with your pitch and the more you practice it, the more confident you will become. And this is a great time to speak with a lot of employers in one place. I also think the more someone prepares, the more confident they are going to feel. So, if they’re going in, they haven’t done any research, they don’t know what a job fair is, that can be a little more anxiety-producing. But if you’re doing the research, then you are going to feel a lot more confident.”
And if you need some more guidance preparing for the fair, Jennifer said to check on Handshake: “When they go on the Handshake page to view the employers, we also have the section on how to prepare before, during, and then what you can do after the fair to follow-up. And we also have sample questions.”
Freshmen, sophomores, and other students who do not plan on graduating soon can still benefit from attending the career fair. Jennifer said, “It’s helpful because if anything, it increases their comfort level, and a lot of our sophomores now are already starting to search for internships. So, even if you’re not looking for an internship, we have some that are hiring part-positions. We have summer camps coming, … so even just a summer job. But really it increases that confidence so that you are ready. You already have a better sense of how to approach employers, what to say, how to do the research, and just to see what’s out there. And really it could help if they are not sure what they want to do with their major just to see the opportunities that are available.”
Marketing and Communications will also be at the fair to take professional headshots for free that students can use for their LinkedIn profiles.
To learn more about the career fair, email Career Services at careerservices@mckendree.edu.
View the list of employers coming to the fair at the 2024 McKendree University Career Fair | Handshake (joinhandshake.com)
