Career Services offers events to help prepare graduating seniors

Career Services is planning events to better prepare seniors for graduation this upcoming spring.

Director of Career Services Melissa Wilson said that there are more events planned in the spring than there is in the fall, however there is no spring career fair.

The upcoming events include the Etiquette Dinner on April 2, Runway to Success on April 3, a Networking Social on April 4 and a Mock Interview Day on April 10.

These four events are being called Falcon Finishing School. The past events that have been planned by Career Services occurred in February. They are: Fair for On-Campus Jobs, My First Resume Workshop, and the Minnesota Job & Internship Fair.

The Mock Interview Day, according to the Career Services’ website, is planned in order to enhance interviewing and communication skills that are “necessary to make you competitive in today’s job market.”

It is an event to polish professional skills, as Wilson put it. She said that so far, about 100 students have already signed up for the event.

Career Services will then bring in professionals from fields of the students who sign up to attend. The deadline to sign up is March 29.

The Etiquette Dinner is an event that is sponsored by Target and costs $12 per person to attend. It will consist of a five-course meal and it is an event that will instruct students on how to act in a professional meal setting.

Runway to Success is an event that is designed to teach students how to dress professionally in the workplace.

It is a student-run fashion show that will highlight retailers from around the community, as well as from the Woodbury Lakes shopping mall.

Students who attend will learn how to dress in a business casual way, what not to wear and how to “design on a dime,” which is how students can dress well on a budget. Wilson said that a lot of prizes will be given out as well.

The final event that is being planned is a Networking Social. This is an event that is also sponsored by Target. Target sends people to the campus in order for students to have practice and gain experience on how to navigate a room.

As to how often these events are put on, Wilson said that the Mock Interview Day and My First Resume occur every semester.

Senior Eli Sanchez did not find one specific event very helpful, though. Sanchez attended the Mock Interview Day last semester as a requirement for his capstone class.

He said the mock interview went fine, but he was paired up with an employer from a company that had no relevance to what he actually wanted to pursue as a career after he graduated. He said that the physical set up of the interviews in the Ballroom in the University Center was not good.

It was not an intimate setting because everything was all out in the open and he added that there were different set ups that could have been done.

Sanchez also said that although the event was well organized, “it was overwhelming, but in a way that could have been prevented.”

Senior Amy Johnson had a different take. Johnson said after she graduates, she plans to find a job through the YMCA working with children. She said that Career Services has been very helpful with this process.

Over J Term she got help with things such as her resume, interviewing, cover letters and how to write a professional thank you.

She said that she feels ready to graduate, and is ready to go and get a job. Johnson also added that she has attended the Mock Interview Day and the Career Fair in the past as requirements for a class, but she said she would go even if the events were not required.
Career Services also offers on campus interviews in the offices along with resume and cover letter help.

Hire-A-Falcon is another resource for both students and alumni to utilize. Wilson added, “We don’t keep any secrets. If we know something, we’re going to share it.”