It’s the middle of a busy week at a busy time in your educational schedule. Papers are due, projects seem to be piling up, and you’re worried about your grades slipping. So who could possibly have time to attend a job fair?

Top FIVE Reasons You should attend a job fair!

1)    By attending a job fair, you will meet employees from companies you may be interested in working for. This could be someone from Human Resources or, if it’s a small firm, you might even meet the owner. In today’s day and age of the electronic job applications, your resume could be one of possibly hundreds or even thousands directed at an employment opportunity. Attending a job fair provides you the opportunity to personally present a resume and speak directly with company personnel. This is a chance to sell yourself as a highly qualified candidate, who went the extra distance to research the firm, attend the job fair, and introduce yourself in person.

2)    You may discover companies which you did not know existed. At a recent job fair I attended there were at least three companies, (two of which were based in Virginia) I’d never heard of: Markel, Shine, and RKG. The point being these companies are hiring, but how do you,

a job seeker, go about researching them if you don’t know they are out there?

3)    You may gain additional knowledge of internships offered by various companies from someone who has done one. Referring back to the job fair I attended, two of the six presenters had done a paid summer internship prior to being hired by the company.

4)    Attending a job fair gives you an opportunity to practice your business social skills, such as introducing yourself and delivering a genuine sounding picture of who you are and what you’re looking for in a job. The company person you’re speaking with just may turn out to be someone from HR.

5)    It’s free!  If the event is off-campus, SU Career Services usually provides free transportation to the event. 

Career Services is located in Cooley Hall 314

For questions or job search assistance, contact Career Services atcareer@su.edu.