Recruiters, employers, faculty, staff and students attended Career Prep Day, an event hosted by the Hegi Family Career Development Center. (Kathleen Strauss/The Daily Campus)
The Hegi Family Career Development Center hosted an event on Thursday to prepare Southern Methodist University students for their quest to find internships and jobs.
Career Prep Day happens every semester right before the Career Fair. The event is filled with different programs covering many different career needs and allows students, of any major, to acquire useful information in a short period of time.
“The goal of Career Prep Day is to equip students with the necessary career skills to make them successful in their future career goals during and after college,” Allison Dupuis, a career coach at the SMU Hegi Family Career Development Center, said.
Over 100 Students filled the lower level of Hughes-Trigg Student Center, where students signed in and then participated in the different events.
Darin Ford, director of the SMU Hegi Family Career Development Center, said. “There is something for everyone: resume critiques, networking with the top alumni-employers in the area, how to be successful at the career fair, social media and professional branding training.”
The six different workshops and booths emphasized the importance of “what employers expect from their candidates,” Dupuis said.
Regina James-Dorsey, assistant director of Hegi Family Career Development Center, said “At the Resumania workshop students check in and according to their major are sent to a certain employer, and for 15 minutes the employers offers advice on how to build their resume and make themselves competitive for the job market.”
Along with the Resumania workshop, students also participated in the Career Fair Success workshop, Work Abroad panel and Speed Networking workshop.
Students who may find the Career and Internship Fair intimidating attended the Career Fair Success workshop to learn the ins and outs.
The Work Abroad panel was for students interested in interning or working abroad. The panel offered valuable information about different employers international experience and provided different networking opportunities for obtaining international jobs.
Students had the opportunity to practice their professional networking skills with professional volunteers at the Speed Networking workshop.
Along with the workshops, there were two booths that students visited.
One was the LinkedIn booth where students could take a professional photo for their LinkedIn profile, register for LinkedIn and learn how LinkedIn could be valuable when searching for jobs.
The Social Media Services booth helped students understand the power of social media as a resource for searching for careers and networking. The booth offered students the opportunity to learn about LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook.
Student’s benefit greatly from each event by recognizing the importance of building a strong resume and acquiring strong networking skills, which are two important tools in finding an internship or job opportunity.
“Students will leave Career Prep Day with a better understanding of how to talk about their experiences, what employers expect from their candidates, and an increased level of confidence. Some students might even leave with a new connection and maybe a future career opportunity,” Dupuis said.
