Today’s college students face an economy that offers fewer jobs directly after graduation, so staying a step ahead of competition is increasingly important.
With more than 150 recruiters under one roof at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center today, opportunities are available.
Employers will be stationed at exhibit tables from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. today to recruit students for internships, graduate school opportunities, part-time, summer, and full-time jobs. Dress is casual.
Associate Director of Career Services Mary Belleau said students of all classifications should attend Career Day.
“About 80 percent of employers come back,” Belleau said. “These recruiters who come back representing these companies stay in those positions, so if you come as a freshman the person who hires you for that internship is the same person that hires you for the job [after graduation], because they stay in that position for quite a while.”
Enterprise Rent-A-Car recruiting supervisor Brandi Daigle stressed the importance of students coming to the job fair to meet the recruiters.
“It’s an extra opportunity for them to sell themselves,” Daigle said. “We get a ton of resumés, but if we can put a face with a resumé, the student stands out.”
Belleau said recruiters come to Career Day to see which students they will eventually interview one-on-one.
“The purpose of Career Day is not for employers to interview students; you usually don’t get a job from Career Day,” Belleau said. “The purpose is for students to meet employers and for the employers to begin to pre-select these students that they will interview later in the semester.”
Daigle said she looks for a combination of qualities in a student.
“We look for personality, work experience and how well a person can sell themselves in the interview as well,” Daigle said.
Belleau said Career Day helps students learn which employers are requesting their majors and what kind of jobs they may have in the future.
“Employers love the LSU students,” Belleau said. “Employers [told me] because of the economy, they have to cut off schools, but LSU is not one of them. Sometimes they say there are not enough students coming. With the economy as it is, there are 150 employers under one roof offering jobs. We have 2,500 students who attend, over 5,000 who register for on-campus interviewing and more,” she said.
Belleau advises that students “perfect their resumés.”
Career Services has an LSU resumé and tutorial builder online. To access this tutorial visit their Web site at www.lsu.edu/career.
Belleau suggests that students go to the Web site and learn about the companies that are coming to Career Day.
“We are trying to get students to go to our Web site. We have so many things they can go to,” Belleau said. “Names of employers, you click on the employer and find their information. Tips for participating, here you can do research on the company.”
Daigle said her biggest problem with students is lack of preparation.
“At some career fairs, some students are dressed really nice, and some aren’t. I’d like to see more people prepared,” she said.
To be able to get an online interview, students can submit a resumé online.
Belleau said employers look more favorably upon students who make the effort to come out and meet the recruiters, as opposed to those who just submit resumés online.
Belleau stressed the need for students to have job-related experience as a must when you get to be a senior.
“Start out early in your academic career,” Belleau said. “One of the main criterions used by employers in selecting applicants for interviews is experience. Begin early in your academic career to get that. Career Day is a useful opportunity to do that. There’s just nothing like experience.”