More than 60 companies will be expected at West Virginia University’s annual Spring Career Fair in the Mountainlair Ballrooms March 4 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
WVU Career Services Center employees David L. Durham and Sarah Rotruck Glenn are available for students to help prepare for the career fair.
"It’s extremely important to be prepared when you come to the fair," Glenn said.
He added, because of the economy and a more competitive job market, a student might be competing not just with fellow WVU students but with students at other campuses those companies visit.
"The candidate pool is so much greater than it was before," Glenn said. "Students need to ramp up their efforts to make themselves standout."
To help impress potential employers, the Career Services Center helps students fine-tune their resumes, develop cover letters, work on mock interview skills and develop a solid career goal.
In addition, the center focuses on having a strong first impression by offering seminars related to proper attire, background research of perspective companies and an elevator speech. The elevator speech is a 30-second to one-minute introduction telling a recruiter of your experiences, knowledge and skills that would make a person a strong employee.
"Recruiters will decide in the first 15 seconds if you are a viable candidate or not," Durham said.
A student’s ideal employer may not be at the fair, but there are still "tremendous opportunities" to gain experience in an interview, he added.
Still, there are a slew of opportunities for students.
BE Aerospace has a summer opportunity paying $16 per hour, which comes with a furnished apartment, Glenn said.
Durham added 84 Lumber
offers civil engineering positions in plants where an employee will make a six-figure salary.
Many students, Durham said, don’t know of these opportunities because they don’t do preliminary research.
For that reason, the Career Services Center is trying to persuade sophomore and junior students to attend the fair, as well.
"When a senior comes in for help now, and they are graduating in May, the best thing that we can do is damage control," Durham said.
For more information, visit the WVU Career Services Center in the Mountainlair or its Web site at www.wvu.edu/~careersc.
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