The Illinois Wesleyan University will hold their annual Fall Career Fair on Monday, Sept. 23 from 4:00 to 6:30 in the Shirk Center and will feature a variety of different employers.
Over 90 employers will be present at the fair to give students the chance to explore different types of employment all in one convenient place.
This fair offers a unique opportunity for students to make direct contact with potential employers instead of trying to communicate by submitting applications or resumes online.
“This career fair is designed to provide students the chance to make that personal contact with a representative, and that can open the door to follow-up interviews for an internship or full time employment,” Warren Kistner, the Director of the Hart Career Center said.
“If students are prepared for these short meetings that they could have at the career fair it can be extremely productive.”
The career fair is open to students of all class standings, and for first-year students this fair can offer them their first opportunity to explore different careers available to their major.
For sophomores through seniors, the fair offers the chance to secure an internship, a shadowing opportunity and/or potential employment after graduation.
Meeting with employers allows students to get a better understanding of a particular organization and how they could potentially fit in that atmosphere.
Students should expect an interview format in which a number of a quick interviews will take place and should spend an adequate amount of time preparing for the different employers they plan to speak with.
“Students can use this to gather information, but this fair is intended to create conversations with a representative and allow for potential follow up with a recruiter,” Kistner said.
“It’s not meant to act as a one way conversation of employers informing students about their cooperation, instead it should initiate a discussion of how a student could potentially fit.”
Employers that students should expect to see at the fair include local businesses.
These businesses will include employers uch as Access to Insight, who are looking for graphic designers, and the Ecology Action Center.
Larger local employers like Country Financial, State Farm Insurance and Growmark are also attendance.
The fair also does aim to include larger Fortune 500 companies such as Caterpillar, JP Morgan Chase Bank, and KPMG to offer students a variety of different work atmospheres.
This year, Kistner and the staff at the Hart Career Center have tried to bring in more Human Services associated career paths and larger governmental organizations such as the FBI and DEA.
One unique aspect of the career fair is its inclusion to alumni employers or representatives.
This allows IWU students to be able to use the alumni network to explore different career paths.
The Hart Career Center actively reaches out to alumni throughout the year to connect students with different job and internship opportunities throughout the year.
The career center also makes it a priority to incorporate as many alumni as they can into the fair.
Throughout the week the Hart Career Center offered different resume building and interview preparation events for students to attend.
The center is also offering to print up to 10 resumes out for students to use at the fair this Sunday from 10-5 p.m.
Photo Credit: Illinois Wesleyan University