More than 60 different organizations will be represented in Walker Conference Center on Thursday, March 6, for the annual Career and Networking Expo hosted by the Career Services office.
Employers and representatives from various companies, school districts, graduate schools and ministries will be present at this year’s expo. Students of all majors are encouraged to participate in the expo in order to meet recruiters, ask questions about job programs, expand their professional network and receive career tips. The expo will last from 11 a.m.-2 p.m.
“Many students have found tangible job and internship leads or learned about graduate programs that are exactly the fit they were searching for by attending the Career Expo,” said Lauren Land, director of Career Services. “Everyone who attends will gain experience in networking—meeting new contacts, telling them about themselves and their career goals and asking good questions.”
The expo is free and open to all students. No RSVP or signup is necessary to attend, but students are strongly encouraged to dress in professional business attire and to bring several copies of their most recent resume.
The organizations represented at the expo are from all over the country, even as far away as San Francisco. Many of the organizations attending will have tangible jobs or internships to discuss, while others are there just to make contacts with students, talk about career planning, offer industry insight and answer questions. Regardless, Land believes that the expo will be very beneficial to all students, freshmen to seniors.
“Of course, upperclassmen are a natural fit for this event because they are looking to make relevant connections as they really hone in on their job search,” Land said. “But this is also a fantastic opportunity for freshmen and sophomores who are making decisions about fields they want to explore for their future career and have questions to ask these industry representatives.”
Even students who have not previously spent much time working on resumes, networking and career preparation, or students who are still uncertain about their career plans are encouraged to attend.
“It’s never too early to start thinking about it,” Land said. “It will save so much stress and anxiety during senior year if students start thinking about their career goals early and gathering as much information as they can.”
Though the Career Services office hosts many programs and events throughout the year to help students with career preparation, the Career and Networking Expo is by far their largest event of the school year.
“The office has worked tirelessly in preparing for this event,” said Hannah Pilcher, program coordinator for the Career Services office. “It takes a lot of preparation because we are dealing with so many people in the work force. This is not an event that can be thrown together in a few weeks.”
The preparation for the expo takes months each year, but employees of Career Services find it worth it to present students with this networking experience.
“This expo is a way for the Career Services office to really serve the students on this campus because we are helping them by bringing all these people to them and giving them the opportunity to meet as many professionals as they can,” Pilcher said. “We want to show these recruiters how wonderful our students are and that we really are proud of them. We know they are receiving a great education and we are confident that these recruiters will see the abilities and skills that our students posses.”
A complete list of the professional organizations that will attend the expo is available online at http://www.obu.edu/career/career-networking-expo/. For more information about the expo, contact Land at landl@obu.edu.
