The Career Fair is coming to Penn State Behrend and it’s important to be prepared.

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On Sept. 20, 2017 hundreds of students will attend the Career Fair being held in the Junker Center. The Career fair is an event that many professors encourage students to utilize. At the up and coming event, businesses will be looking at Behrend students to fill an array of positions from internships to full time jobs. This can lead many students questioning on what to do in preparation for the fair.

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There are two main career fairs held on Behrend Campus annually one in the fall and one in the spring. The fall fair tends to be the larger of the two. This fall, the career fair will be on Sept. 20 from 12:00 pm to 4:00 pm in the Junker Center.

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Preparing for the career fair often stresses out students. It is important to put in the work ahead of time. Write or update a resume and make an appointment at the ACPC office to have someone review it for you. Go through your social media and update it so it displays the professional aspects of your life. Create a LinkedIn account if you haven’t already because many employers use LinkedIn to get an easy overview of new candidates. Pick out and try on your professional attire ahead of time so that the outfit is prepared and without flaw the day of the fair. Prepare and rehearse a speech which clearly, and briefly tells employers who you are, what you are looking for, and how you can be a benefit for the company. Try to come in hand with many resumes to hand out to various companies print extra incase you find companies in which you didn’t plan on speaking to.

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Shelly Xie, a sophomore studying electrical engineering, discussed her most surprising experience visiting the fair as a freshman. She said, “how casual it was, everyone could just talk to anyone. One guy from a company even looked at my resume and told me what employers would be looking at on my resume and how to shape it up in the future.”

  

With so many opportunities and the more relaxed setting one may find themselves circulating resumes more than expected.

A final preparation would to visit the Career Fair Expo taking place on September 13, where employers can review your resumes and help you practice your recruitment encounters. Don’t be afraid to flaunt you summer jobs and internships.

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Jacob Wuerstle, owner of Diagnostic X-ray, explained that the biggest thing employers look at when hiring is real world experience. He said, “Successful and completed internships, anything that shows real world experience in the field.”

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Do your research ahead of time the ACPC website offers a list of the many companies which will be in attendance at the fair along with what positions they are looking to fill. The website even allows users to filter the companies in order to find companies who are looking for their major.  Go to the ACPC website and see which businesses interest you most, then do further research about those specific companies. By knowing what you want to get into and why allows recruiters to better utilize the limited time you have.

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For any students interested in attending the career fair this fall, make it a point to stop in to see the councilors at ACPC, which is open 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. and visit their website at http://behrend.psu.edu/Academics/academic-services/acpc.