Invitations? Check. Cap and gown? Check. Paid library fines?Check. A job after graduation? The staff of the Hegi Family CareerDevelopment Center can help soon-to-be graduating Mustangs withthat. Last Friday inside Hughes-Trigg, the annual SMU CareerConvention aided students in their job hunt.
“We wanted students to have the chance to talk with areaemployers and get valuable feedback in their job search,”said Jerry Alexander, director of the career center, said.
Throughout the day, more than 20 companies participated in”Resumania” where human resource representativesreviewed and helped students polish their applications.
The featured discussion of the day was the Employer InterviewingTips Panel. Representatives from Blockbuster, Frito Lay/PepsiCo,Nortel Networks, Prudential Financial Services and SouthwestAirlines participated in a panel discussion along with 80 studentsin the Hughes-Trigg ballroom.
“Get a good foundation for your job at school and find outif your major is what you want to be doing for the rest of yourlife,” said Leslie Burke from Prudential.
Representatives also gave specific advice for the interviewprocess.
“Come prepared with a high level ofprofessionalism,” said Meg Jones from Blockbuster. “Andknow the company you are interviewing for…I can’t tellyou how many people say they love our two-for-one deal butdon’t know anything else about our company!”
The evolving role of technology in the application process wasmentioned, and the panel agreed that it’s best to personallyhand in an application rather than blindly applying on a companywebsite.
Junior Erica Andre was there “to take advantage of theresources available.”
“To hear from the people who do the hiring was reallyhelpful. I know how they expect you to present yourself and how torespond during the interview.”
Kim Holladay, the Cox School of Business career counselor,moderated the panel discussion.
“Hopefully the students got a lot out of the event and arebetter prepared for the job process,” she said. “If wecan give SMU students the edge in job hunting, then all of us havedone our job.”
Alexander and Holladay both agree the career center and othercareer-related events are underused by students.
“We have to help students understand that they can improvetheir future with simple planning now,” said Alexander.
A recruiting expo will be held from noon to 4 p.m., Wednesday inthe Hughes-Trigg ballroom. More than thirty companies will haverepresentatives for full, part-time jobs and internships. For acomplete listing and more information on future career centerevents visit http://www.smu.edu/career.
