Open interview Slots!

Wow - We can’t believe that the career fair is less then a week away! For any procrastinators out there, the BPC will be working with the COBA Council to help evaluate resumes and answer questions Monday night from 6-8 in the Mackinaw Room in the Student Center.

As far as interviews go, there are a handful to pre-selected interview slots open with Enterprise, Hertz, Aldi, Sapphire Technologies, Menards, and Target… We expect these to fill up by the end of business today (Friday), so hop on E-Recruiting right now and check out these opportunities! If you’re reading this over the weekend, you can still request an interview with a recruiter - E-recruiting works 24/7!

BPC Open House!

The BPC Open House was a great success! We had a great turnout of both students and faculty who came by to hear about all the services that the BPC provides and to eat some great cheesecake (provided by Dennis Zurliene of ‘Z’s Cheesecakes and More‘)!

Check out the pictures and feel free to come by anytime to meet the staff of the BPC!

Effective Career Fairs

As you probably know, the all-majors Career Fair is next Tuesday, February 20^th, from 9am-2pm in the Student Center Ballrooms. This will be the last job fair dedicated to all majors for this semester (there is an Internship & Summer Job Expo in March, which may or may not apply to you).

Unless you have a job lined up for after graduation already (and there are a few students out there who fall into that category – a quick congrats are in order), the Job Fair is a great opportunity to polish your networking and personal presentation skills. Get ready for a great day next Tuesday! The best part is, you will have started your job search long before graduation – won’t that feel good?

So, what’s a basic ‘to-do/not-to-do’ list for next Tuesday? Read on:

• Get your resume reviewed ASAP… We’re getting busy here in the BPC, but we will make sure everybody who makes the effort will have their resume critiqued.

• Run through a mock interview – practice talking about yourself.

• Check out a list of the attending companies and pick a few that you might be interested in and research them. Imagine being able to go up to the Boeing recruiter and holding a conversation about the redesigned KC-767 aircraft.

• Dress up. Seriously. Career fairs are to recruiters what Abercrombie is to college students. Look your very best and then go one better. Guys, if you aren’t sure of your jacket or suit size, go to Macy’s (at University Mall) and get measured. I can personally recommend that you see Art, but anybody there can help you out.

• Get there early and check out a few booths. Have a good quality folio (not a folder – this isn’t kindergarten) with several good quality copies of your resume on resume paper. A few reference sheets wouldn’t hurt, if you really hit it off with a recruiter.

• DO NOT play smash and grab with all the goodies that recruiters are giving away. Be there to get an interview, not a little foam smiley face and a CD package opener. If you must, quietly pick the item up and put it in your pocket – not a bag that you got three booths back. Stay professional.

• Keep a positive attitude about everything. Keep your head up and be ready to make something happen that day!!! When it’s over look back and ask yourself – ‘now, was that so hard???’

I know that sounds like a lot, but it’s really, really important to take advantage of next Tuesday. Companies are going to be here specifically to interview and hire our students! If you want some help on your resume or any other Career Fair advice, call Matt Purdy at 453.2710.

Resume Ricochet, Part 1

Resumes are funny things. We all know that we need one – make that a GREAT one – but sometimes it’s hard to know where to start. It can be one of those things that we procrastinate over until we have a career fair the next day and then we start freaking out about it. Hopefully that doesn’t sound familiar, but if it does, read on.

Resumes typically come in two flavors: Chronological and Functional. The main difference is in the layout. Chronological resumes lay out your life history in the following format:

• Contact information
• Objective
• Education
• Experience
• Awards, Activities, Etc… (this section is fairly flexible depending on your individual situation)

In contrast, functional resumes do things a little differently:

• Contact information
• Objective
• Education
• Areas of effectiveness (or expertise, if you will)
• Activities
• Etc…

Some basic tips to keep in mind are to SPELL CHECK your resume!!! Believe it or not, some people don’t do this. It’s late, they’ve been hammering on getting the margins just right and remembering the start and end dates of their various college jobs and just want to go to bed. Please, for the love of all things maroon, SPELL CHECK the thing before you print it off! Better yet, spell check it and have somebody look it over with a fine tooth comb for any mistakes that Word might not pick up. Need an example? Look at the following objective statements:

• Hard-working, dependable, punctual marketing graduate looking for a research position to help achieve the goals and objectives of a progressive organization.
  
  
• Hard-working, dependable, punctual marketing graduate looking for a research poison to help achieve the goals and objectives of a progressive organization.

Notice anything a little funny in the second objective? Microsoft Word didn’t either. Take a closer look if you still aren’t sure.

Remember – your resume is your advertisement to potential employers. Make it difficult for them NOT to select you for an interview!

Career Fair @ the Ballpark!

Well, this is totally cool. The St. Louis Cardinals will be hosting a Career Fair at Busch Stadium on April 24th from 1:30-4:30 pm. While it costs about $25.00 to get in, that fee DOES include a ticket for that night’s Cardinals v. Reds baseball game (first pitch is 7:10 pm)

Some of the companies that will be accepting resumes at this Career Fair include Anheuser-Busch, Coca-Cola, the St. Louis Blues, and of course, the St. Louis Cardinals.

Career Fair at the Ballpark Application Form

Fill it out and fax it in early!

There's Going to be a Party!

Make sure you mark your calendar for Thursday, February 15th (a little over a week from today) - that’s the day of the Placement Center Open House! From 3-6:00 we’ll have food, fun, and even a few giveaways for some lucky attendees, thanks to Target!

We look forward to seeing you on the 15th in Rehn 113!

Mock Interview chat… Episode 1

Scared about interviews? Who isnt? Take a listen to Jennifer Rheaume, who discusses her mock interview experience.

Email Matt Purdy at mpurdy ‘at’ cba.siu.edu or call 453.2710 to schedule your mock interview today!

Hello There!

Welcome to the SIUC Business Placement Center blog!

We plan on using this as a new and informative way to communicate various events and happenings to anybody out there who might be interested. You can expect various posts and articles on things like resume and interviewing tips and tricks, career fairs and how to prepare for them and how to dress for success, among other things.

We are using Blogger software to manage this blog, so feel free to use an RSS reader like Newsgator or Netvibes to keep track of the blog without having to come back to this page. Also, please note that we welcome comments to various postings - so if you have something to say, just say it!

Cheers,

The BPC Team