The Lion’s Roar / Morgan Ledet

The Lion’s Roar / McKenzie DeSandro
Management majors Tyler Mellenthin, junior (top left) and Stephen Davis, senior (top right) talk business. Graduate students Hunter Craven and Laura Brooks (below) stop to discuss potential job opportunities.

Students came dressed to impress when presented with the opportunity to meet with over 150 potential employers.

Career Fair, hosted by Career Services on Thursday, Sept. 18, was held in the Pennington Student Activity Center. 

Recruiters from fields varying from accounting to engineering were all under one roof to take resumes and discuss business propositions. This provides students with a chance to network, provide information on potential careers and internships and for some, get a feel of what a professional interviewing process might be like.

Many of the employers utilized Career Fair as a way to get a wide variety of students in one place. This gives them the opportunity to put the word out so they can have a bigger selection of potential employees to choose from.

“I’m a Southeastern alumni, 35 years ago, school of business, and I was at a career fair years ago looking for my job too. It’s nice to come back as an employer and make some offers for some young people here in Hammond,” said Doug Johnson, a State Farm agent.

The Lion’s Roar / McKenzie DeSandro

The Lion’s Roar / McKenzie DeSandro
Senior finance majors Matthew Brandt (top left) and Abit Tiwavi (top right) compare resumes. Marketing senior Gabriel Arabie and business graduate Brett Stirling (below)pose between visits to employer booths.

Like many other companies that attended the fair, State Farm did not come looking for people with specific academic backgrounds. 

“We hope for engaged students that can express their job interest very succinctly. We’re a state agency and we hire a lot of different majors, but we’re not really tied on to a specific skill set,“ said Brandon Blanchard from the Division of Administration of Human Resources.

Employers today are not all just looking for skill. In a world so focused on communication, having connections and enthusiasm are becoming essential qualities in businesses. Matthew Brandt, a senior finance major, uses career fairs to network and to get more comfortable discussing business. At last year’s fair, he made enough connections to get callbacks from 13 employers.

“I talk to everybody, even if I’m not going to work for them. It may turn out as a good contact later. I did it before. I interned and didn’t like what I did, so hopefully this time, I’ll find something new,” said Brandt.

Students and employers alike raved about how well-organized Career Fair was.

“The people here at Southeastern and your career services have done a phenomenal job putting on the fair. It is often a challenge getting a good turnout particularly in the fall,” said Hall Morrison, a program associate at the Louisiana Resource Center for Educators. “They’ve done a wonderful job getting the word out. We’ve had lots of good folks come up and I’d be happy to come out here again.”

Southeastern puts on part and full-time career fairs every semester. For more information, visit the Career  Services webpage.