Mock Career Fair prepares students for job hunting
Marketing freshman Kourtney Kadrich, left, and accounting freshman Laura Brown practice interviewing before the Mock Career Fair put on by the Women in Business Students’ Association. “I was laughing because she was making me go through the whole motions of what I’m going to say,” Kadrich said. The women had to give a 30-second presentation of their résumés.
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Business students broke out their best interview clothes Tuesday, dusted off their résumés and headed over to the Business College Complex for the second annual Women in Business Students’ Association Mock Career Fair.
Last year, more than 100 students attended the mock career fair, where they mingled with nine corporate sponsors, said Heather Cameron, external vice president of WBSA.
This year, there were 11 new corporations — including Fortune 500 companies such as Limited Brands and J. C. Penney Company Inc. — and more than 30 recruiters.
“All of these companies are recruiting right now and they will be attending the (Business Exchange Career Gallery) so now students get to be in front of these companies and their résumés will be in (the companies’) hands before anyone else who attends the Career Gallery on Thursday,” Cameron said.
The Career Gallery is a two-day event that takes place Wednesday and Thursday at Breslin Center.
Thursday’s event will focus on business-related jobs.
Heather Buerger, president of the WBSA, developed the Mock Career Fair idea so students could gain more hands-on networking experience in the corporate world.
“So many people in the business college aren’t exactly prepared for career galleries, especially those as big as the one MSU holds,” she said. “We wanted to prepare our members for the career galleries so that they won’t be intimidated and so that they would be a step above other competitors.”
Students were given 30 seconds to present themselves to recruiters and received feedback on how they could improve their presentation.
Laura Huddas, a recruiter for Chrysler LLC and former social chair of the WBSA, said the company is participating in the mock career fair because it’s a good way to network with students before the actual fair.
“A lot of students get nervous and anxious before a career fair because they don’t really know what to say so these things really helped us prepare what to say for your 30-second commercial,” Huddas said.
Laura Brown, an accounting freshman, said she was attending the mock fair to help her confidence and hopefully find her a summer internship.
Although she was nervous about speaking to recruiters, she mustered up the confidence to speak with a representative from Northwestern Mutual Financial Network.
“She gave me good feedback about telling a company what I liked about them,” Brown said.
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