Career Services will host a series of seminars this week to help students transition into the professional world. The sessions will feature helpful tips and hints regarding resumes and how to take advantage of career fairs.”Effective Resume Writing” will be held on Tuesday, Feb. 5 in the Career Services building on Bearkat Blvd from 12 to 1 p.m. “We belong to an organization called the National Association of Colleges and Employers, and they stay on the heartbeat of what employers are looking for in resumes, as well as interviewing skills and what skills they want students to bring to the table,” Career Services Counselor Rachel Phelps said. “So we’re able to stay on top of the current trends – that is the info we’ll bring to students.” Because it straddles the lunch hour, the workshop will be a casual, brown-bag lunch event as well as a seminar for resume writing. Participants are welcome to bring lunch – refreshments and cookies will be provided. Wednesday’s event, “How to ‘Work’ the Career Fair,” is from 3 to 4 p.m. in the Career Services Building. It will be a precursor to the upcoming career fairs in the area. “I wanted to schedule a ‘How to Work the Career Fair’ around that as well as the college of business career fair that’s on Feb. 19 and our summer camp and job fair, put together by career services on Feb.13,” Phelps said. Sam Houston’s Career Services office belongs to the Houston Area Consortium of Career Centers, the host of the Texas Job Fair in Houston. The fair will be held on Tuesday, Feb.12, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the University of St. Thomas Jerabeck Center in Houston. “When I was arranging the schedule, I really looked at what events were coming up and what I need to do to help people with and obviously having a resume ready and knowing what to do when you’re at the career fair are big parts of why I chose them for this semester,” Phelps said. On Thursday, Feb. 7, Career services will repeat the “Effective Resume Writing” workshop from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. in the Career Services building. “I think the benefit of coming to the workshops is that you really have chance to interact and ask questions that maybe aren’t answered in the resource material that we have,” Phelps said. “We do those throughout the semester, so it’s not just surrounding job fairs. It seems to be a big opportunity to help people get ready for them.” The Career Services office always offers help to students wanting to polish resumes or prepare for interviews. “We do have some handout material in our library on the career fair tips,” Phelps said. “Also, we have resume packets that will help people sort of get a beg idea of what needs to be in a resume. We also do resume critiquing, so if somebody isn’t able to come to the job fair they can certainly do a one-on-one resume critique.”Other events this month, like “Successful Interviewing Skills” on Feb. 20, “Job Offer Evaluation and Salary Negotiation” on Feb. 21, are planned to further help students. Repeats and other workshops will occur all semester. Schedules are available online, or look for announcements on campus. “Towards the end of the semester, we look at things that might be more relevant to seniors that are graduating and the job search. We look at the same thing about resume writing, interview skills, how to decide basically what kind of job, the deciding factors in a jo and then how to transition from being a student to a professional,” Phelps said. “There’s a lot to know in that first year out and things that people don’t’ normally know and that can make you or break youwe want to help prepare students to prepare that professional side.”
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