SHREVEPORT – Tidy that resume and polish those social media profiles for the upcoming Fall Career Fair at LSUS.
LSUS students and alumni will have access to more than 40 local and regional employers at the Nov. 8 event, which will be held from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the University Center Ballroom.
Career Services is hosting an array of workshops and events to prepare students to take full advantage of the Career Fair.
Have a professional review your resume in Resumes on the Run – taking place Wednesday at the Basic Needs Fair (10:30 am to 12:30 pm in the UC Ballroom) and on Thursday at the Student Success Center (10:30 am to 2 pm). A separate resume writing workshop will be held Friday in the Student Success Center.
“We encourage our students to take advantage of the resources that we have, whether it’s attending one of our events for one-on-one help or coming to our workshop,” said Jennie Flynn-McKevitt, Director of Career services at LSUS. “The resume workshop is more about discussing how to strategically lay out your resume based on the industries you’re interested in.
“We also review resumes via email (career@lsus.edu).”
Friday’s workshop is also available on Zoom for students who can’t attend in person.
For a complete list of tools, visit the LSUS Career Services website.
Forty-three businesses have registered for the career fair in fields ranging from healthcare, tourism, government entities and contractors (police, fire, IT security), financial services and graduate and professional schools.
“Students should come in with a plan of who they want to talk to and what questions they’d want to ask, but I’d also encourage students to strike up conversations with everyone they can,” Flynn-McKevitt said. “Everybody is eager to answer your questions.
“Even first- and second-year students should attend because it’s a great way to collect information and learn what options may be available to you. When else would you have this many organizations in one room ready to talk to you?”
Jotting down impressions and facts in a notebook will allow the career fair attendee to retain information about companies and recruiters.
Business casual (shirt and slacks/dress jeans for men; blouses/skirts/dress jeans for women) is the typical attire.
Flynn-McKevitt also emphasizes the value of creating and using a Handshake profile.
Handshake is a centralized online job board that features more than 17,000 opportunities locally and from across the country, which would also benefit LSUS online students not located in Louisiana as well as regionally-based students.
Users can research companies and read reviews from other Handshake users who have worked for specific companies.
Part-time and full-time jobs as well as internships are posted to Handshake in a range of industries.
“You can message other Handshake users for details about how they landed a particular job or what their experience was like with a company,” Flynn-McKevitt said. “It’s an extremely powerful tool.”
LSUS will also host a regional career fair this coming April in which more than 100 businesses typically attend.
