The Texas A&M Career Center is working alongside the College of Liberal Arts and the Business Student Council to host their career fairs this week.
The Liberal Arts Career Fair will be held on Jan. 29 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the MSC 2300 Bethancourt Ballroom, while the Business Career Fair is on Jan. 29 and Jan. 30 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Kyle Field Hall of Champions. The Business Career Fair offers students a free app for their phones to help navigate the event and the recruiters who are present. The event also offers free, professional headshots to any student at the career fair.
At the Liberal Arts Career Fair, students are asked to either wear business casual or professional outfits, while at the Business Career Fair, students are required to dress in business professional. Assistant director for the Career Center Bradley Mathews said anyone of any major or year can attend a career fair, even if the student isn’t in that specific department.
“If there is an employer coming that isn’t coming to another career fair that a student wants to go to, they’re more than welcome to come to [the] Liberal Arts Career Fair,” Mathews said.
The Business Career Fair is working to get freshmen more involved with the event with their freshman initiative tour led by the Career Center, said Steven Mancillas, finance junior and director of the Business Student Council Career Fair.
“Freshmen can come any hour [of the career fair] and get a tour through the career fair, in regard to the services that we offer as well as how to best compose yourself in a conversation with an interviewer,” Mancillas said.
Valerie Wilson, academic advisor for the Department of Communication, said advisors attend the Liberal Arts Career Fair to help guide students through the event and act as a familiar face for the students to help them relax.
“We also, as advisors, try to visit the career fair, [and] talk to the recruiters that are there,” Wilson said. “We ask them what they’re looking for their future hires.”
Wilson said by doing this, advisors are able to help students see which employers are looking for certain skills learned with their degrees.
Not only are there tours and advisors at the career fair, Bradley said the Career Center is working to help students before and after the fair.
“We also do several other workshops, like career fair prep [and] dress for success, and we’ll have a lot of workshops afterwards, like interviewing tips,” Bradley said.
Before attending a career fair, students need to be aware of what they should do to stand out and succeed with potential employers. Bradley said students should research each business in attendance prior to entering the ballroom.
“A lot of recruiters love, the day of, when they’re talking to students [and] for students to already have done that research because it makes the conversation a little more in-depth,” Bradley said.
Both the Business and Liberal Arts Career Fairs are held during the fall and spring semesters. Wilson said students should try to attend both the fall and spring career fairs to help them get comfortable in that type of environment.
“Knowing how employers talk, knowing what they’re looking for, knowing how to interact with a recruiter is a really important skill that you get mostly through practice,” Wilson said.
Students can find more information about the career fairs at www.careercenter.tamu.edu/Events/Career-Fairs.