Career Connections: Fall Career Fair and Take a Patriot to Work

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The Fall Career Fair will bring over 200 employers to campus on October 7 and 8, 2015. A range of national, regional and local employers are expected including Accenture, Advance Health, FireEye, Gannett, National Institutes of Health, Peace Corps, Verisign, and many other employers, government agencies and non-profits from around the DC metro area. Although the focus of the first day of the Career Fair is Science, Technology, Engineering and Math and the second day is Business, Public Service and Non-Profit, many employers are hiring for a range of positions, so it’s important for your student to attend both days.

All students, from freshmen to seniors (and recent graduates) are encouraged to attend the fair. Your student can expect to be exposed to various career options and learn about the hiring needs of employers in their industry of interest. Many employers use the fair to promote their online application tools whereas some take resumes at the fair and a few may even do screening interviews at the fair.

How can you help your student prepare before meeting employers? Here are our top tips for family members:

  • Have your student attend a preparation event before the Career Fair to practice speaking with employers, and have their resume reviewed. Check out the events calendar by visiting careers.gmu.edu/events/
  • Make sure your student comes to the Career Fair professionally dressed to make a strong first impression. For more information on appropriate dress, visit careers.gmu.edu/students/events/fairs/
  • Ask your student to pick out about six to eight companies before the fair to read up about and check out their web sites. Employers really do not like being asked at the fair what they do! They expect students to know that already. The list of participating employers will be available a few weeks before the fair and can be accessed within your student’s HireMason account at careers.gmu.edu

Take a Patriot to Work Day
Have you heard about Take a Patriot to Work Day?  Take Mason students to work with you during this one-day job shadowing event! Show off your facility and company culture while providing students with a realistic perspective of a career field or company of their interest. Job shadowing is unpaid and students do not receive academic credit. Take a Patriot to Work Day occurs every year on the first Friday in November. This year, it will be held on November 6, 2015.

If you are a parent working for an employer or running your own company, please consider volunteering to host one or more students at your workplace. We are accepting registrations now until September 28.  For more details and how to sign up, visit Take a Patriot to Work Day.

Carolyn Kleiman
Career Counselor
University Career Services