Beginning in March, the Office of Career Advancement (OCA) will be hosting career fair preparation workshops teaching students how to navigate a career fair, receive resume and interview tips and learn how to expand their professional network. 

All hybrid workshops are available to students without charge and the online meetings can be found on their ProfLink page.

On March 16,  the OCA held its third workshop “Prep for the Fair Session-Conquering your Doubts About Networking” led by the College of Humanities and Social Sciences Assistant Director Patrick Massaro.  

Massaro credits fellow OCA Assistant Director Karen Siefring for coming up with the idea, along with OCA Assistant Director Altonia Bryant in creating the series. 

“This was actually Karen Siefring’s idea back when Covid first broke out. And the initial thought for the workshop was seeing there were drastic changes going on in terms of seeking employment, the employment landscape,” Massaro said. “We really wanted to create a workshop series that would be not only addressing these changes but also helping students kind of adjust to this new world during but also post-Covid.”

In “Conquering your Doubts About Networking,” Massaro showed students various tools and resources the OCA offers such as the online job search website Prof Jobs that’s exclusive to students and alumni. 

To those in attendance, Massaro also gave advice on using basic interview strategies like having answers that reinforce what the job is looking for when a potential employer asks the question of why they should hire you.

With three remaining workshops and the 2023 spring career fair in full swing, career centers are also a place for students to get help with navigating through college onto a career path.

“My biggest advice for students always is really try to make an appointment with your local career center at least once a year, once a semester,” Massaro said. “So there’s a proactive part to this where it’s similar to going to an annual checkup with your doctor. If you can make an appointment with your career center once a year, we could see where you are, what you might need help with and if you’re on track or not in terms of reaching your career goals.”

The Office of Career Advancement will have three more workshops during the spring semester, the next one is on April 4 from 12:30 to 1 p.m. The workshop will focus on tips for matching your resume to the workforce.

The final two are on April 19 from 3:30 to 4:30 on life after college, and April 24 from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. on exploring internship opportunities. 

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