As the fall 2023 All Majors Career Fair approaches, the University of Houston – Clear Lake, Career Services team is working hard to make sure you will be ready.
The team at the Career Services office have organized a week and a half of events to make sure students have the tools needed to successfully land a job.
The career week events include: Monday, Tuesday, and the following Monday will be on-the-spot resume reviews. Wednesday will be mock interviews. Thursday will be LinkedIn workshops to help build your professional brand. Friday will be professional headshots for LinkedIn profiles. Continue reading for details, times, and locations.
“At UHCL, career week, in some form, has historically led up to the career fair.”, said Chuck Crocker, the director of Career Services.
Lindsey Birdsong, Employer Relations Coordinator, detailed the program she and her teammates assembled for the event. There will be events each day starting Monday, Sept. 18 and continuing through Friday, Sept. 22, and as a bonus there will be one more event on the following Monday, Sept. 25, wrapping up the career week. The All Majors Career Fair will be Wednesday, Sept. 27.
The week will kick off with on-the-spot resume reviews Monday, Sept. 18 and Tuesday, Sept. 19. You will find tables set up with resume specialists ready for walk up customers in the Bayou Building, Atrium 1, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. both days. Come by between classes and bring your resume to be reviewed. Work with the specialists right there to get your resume the makeover it needs to get you in the door for interviews. If you do not have a resume yet the specialists can help you get started. Bring a list of prior employment and volunteer work with you and get a resume started.
Wednesday brings mock interviews. This event will be by appointment only, no walk-ins. Make sure to schedule your interview before all available time slots are filled. If you are unable to schedule your interview because there are no times available, don’t give up, call Career Services in the morning and check for cancelations. The team at Career Services has lined up three HR specialists from multiple industries in our local community to conduct the mock interviews, critique interviewee performance, and give advice on how to succeed in future interviews. A polished resume can get you an interview, but your ability to answer questions in an interview is what gets you a job.
The guest interviewers will coach you on current hiring trends in industry and what employers want to see in candidates today. You can schedule your interview by calling the Career Services office at 281-283-2590, emailing at CareerServices@uhcl.edu, or walking into the Career Services office in the Student Services and Classroom Building, third floor, room 3109.
Thursday is a day of digital networking with two LinkedIn workshops. The first will be in the morning from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. in the Student Organization Center and Lounge (SOCAL), room 2103 on the second floor of the Student Services and Classroom Building. The second workshop will be a virtual workshop, the link for which may be found on Jobs4Hawks powered by Handshake or on the Career Services webpage. You will be required to set up an account using your school credentials on the site. Be sure to do this ahead of time because registration on Jobs 4 Hawks requires the school administration to confirm your account. The LinkedIn workshop will coach you in setting up a professional LinkedIn page and managing that page to keep a professional appearance that will attract prospective employers. The workshop will include using application tools to help build and keep a professional network that can help in identifying employment opportunities. Another topic that will be covered will be building your personal brand online, focused on LinkedIn (though the skills translate to all social media platforms).
Now that you have your LinkedIn profile built, you will want to get a professional headshot for your account. Friday, Career Services will be doing headshots for students by appointment. Call, email, or go by and visit to schedule your modeling shoot. Be sure to wear appropriate business attire, or at least a nice shirt.
After a weekend of rest, come back Monday, Sept. 25 for the final round of on-the-spot resume reviews. Again, resumes will be reviewed in Atrium 1 from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. If you missed your opportunity to have your resume groomed the week prior, bring it between classes and have a trained reviewer help you do some housekeeping on it. If you had homework cleaning up your resume from the prior week, bring it back for a final proofread. If you did not have a resume and got help starting on the previous visit, bring by your now completed resume for a review and get some advice on tightening it up.
Once career week is wrapped up you should be well prepared to attend the career fair Wednesday, Sept. 27. The Career Services team is standing by to help you with all aspects of your career preparation throughout the year.
“We are not just about the job search.”, said Crocker, “We help students find career direction.” If you aren’t sure what job field would fit you best, schedule an appointment with a counselor and get some help a direction based on your interests. Many of the services of career week are available on a walk-in basis at the Career Services office, including resume reviews and practice interviews. Like most things in life, the more you practice the better you get, mock interviews should not be a one-time exercise. If you have a busy schedule and cannot make it into the office, email your resume for a review and receive feedback in your email. Virtual appointments are also available. Make sure to check back to the Career Services website at www.uhcl.edu/career-services/ regularly to see what events are coming up.
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