Potential employers to gather at NKU for Career Expo

Picture+above+is+a+previous+career+event+at+NKU.+The+NKU+Career+Expo+is+Wednesday+in+the+SU+Ballroom.

Amanda Emerson

Picture above is a previous career event at NKU. The NKU Career Expo is Wednesday in the SU Ballroom.

Students looking to prepare for post-graduation job opportunities will have their annual opportunity to do so Wednesday.

The NKU Career Expo will take place Feb. 22 from 2-5 p.m. in the Student Union Ballroom.

There will be more than 135 employers in attendance spanning all parts of the economy and looking to hire students for full-time positions as well as internships and co-ops.

Amanda Meeker, associate director of Career Services, said the expo sold out quickly, meaning there is a lot of interest from employers.

Meeker also said the Career Expo can help not only students gearing up for graduation but also those early in their college career.

Matt Sexton
Amanda Meeker, associate director of NKU Career Services, asks students with questions about potential job offers to contact her and her colleagues.

“Employers really are impressed when students do attend career fairs early,” Meeker said. “If students get themselves to the career fair they find it successful, they find it worth their time. The challenge is getting students there”

In order to bring more students in, the Career Expo changed its time slot from 3-6 p.m. to 2-5 p.m.

“We haven’t had a lot of people check in after 5 p.m., and so we feel like even though we were trying to reach the night students we feel like moving it earlier will hopefully give more access to the people that are on campus,” Meeker said.

In addition to simply showing up, Meeker recommends students take time before the event to look over the list of employers to see what interests them.

The list of employers can be found online, at the Career Services office and in the Career Fair Plus app which is available for both iOS and Android.

Jennifer Richmond, career advisor, recommended students download the Career Fair Plus app before attending the fair rather than during the event.

“Don’t just go into the fair blind,” Richmond said. “Take the time to know who’s going to be there and the people and the opportunities that will be of interest to you.”

The app gives students information about each employer and can be filtered by major and whether they’re looking for an internship or full-time position.

The app also allows students to “favorite” employers. The day of the event, the app will mark where those employers are on a map of the Student Union Ballroom.

“It’s great to have a strategy going into the fair and I think part of that strategy is to know a little bit about the employers,” Richmond said. “Whether you’re looking at the directory or at the app it will give you information about the employer.”

Richmond said she thinks the students who use the app find it helpful, but feels that most students don’t realize it’s there.

Meeker said students should dress professionally for the Career Expo.

“It’s really a professional dress, a professional opportunity for students,” Meeker said. “Business casual is acceptable, but it’s really an expectation that students be dressed professionally.”

Career Services also has extended walk-in hours, during which students can have their resumés looked over.

“We want students to have the opportunity to have a polished, great, professional looking resume to the event,” Meeker said.

Kelsey Zalac, peer career assistant, said this will be her third time attending the event.

“For me, even though I wasn’t always looking for a full-time position or internship it provided good experience to talk to a professional in a professional setting,” Zalac said. “It helped me research what I wanted to do.”

Zalac also recommended students get their resumé checked out by Career Services and look over the list of employers beforehand.

“You check in and then you walk into this giant room of employers and it’s kind of intimidating,” Zalac said. “I looked at the list of employers I was interested in and highlighted them so I wasn’t just wandering around the room aimlessly. I honed in on the ones I wanted to go to.”