Advice For Attending a Career Fair 

Story by Katherine Brown

In preparation for its biannual, all major career fair staff members from the Career Development Center share advice for students planning on attending the fair. The career fair will be on Feb. 9 from 10 a.m.- 2 p.m. in Finch Fieldhouse.  

Robert Vandorin, the director said preparing a conversation ahead of time can help make you not as nervous when talking to an employer you are trying to impress. Getting an employer’s contact information and following up can help show the initiative rather than just dropping off your resume and waiting to hear back.  

“Do your research and find out who’s coming and be prepared to have a conversation,” Vandorin said.  

Jacob Anglebrandt, the assistant director, encourages any student looking for an internship or full-time job should attend to help expand their network. Students from freshmen to seniors can benefit from attending. Even if a freshman is not looking for anything right now, gaining experience on how to network with employers can be beneficial for their future. 

Don’t go to the employers you are most interested in first. Instead, go to a few others first to practice networking so you’ll feel more confident in front of the employers you really want to impress, Kendall Perdue the assistant director said.  

“Be prepared but on the contrary be open-minded” Perdue said. Knowing what you’re going to say can be beneficial but also knowing your conversation won’t go entirely how you want it to go. 

There are many resources students can use provided by CMU including Handshake which has all the employers who will be attending the fair listed. For future career fairs and other professional events, students can take advantage of first impressions to get a professional outfit.  

Staff members encourage students to dress business professional and bring copies of their resumes to hand out to employers and make sure they have practiced their elevator pitch.  

The Career Development Center offers resume reviews for students looking for tips to craft their resume for future career fairs. Appointments can be made on Handshake.