By Brooks Whitehurst
Reporter
With resumes in hand, shined shoes on their feet and ties around their necks, students prepare to present their best at today’s HireABear career fair.
Carolyn Muska, director of professional development, said 142 employers with over 240 recruiters will set up booths and tables in preparation for the 900 students expected to attend.
The HireABear career fair will take place from 12:30-4:30 p.m. at the Waco Convention Center.
“This is a great time for students to look for jobs,” Muska said. “The employers are here to hire.”
The HireABear career fair is Baylor’s largest career fair of the year, open to students and alumni of every major.
“This is our third semester at the convention center,” Muska said. “This career fair used to be held at the Ferrell Center, but basically we just outgrew it, due to the increased number of employers and students attending.”
Muska said a round-trip shuttle will run every 15 minutes to the convention center from behind Cashion Academic Center at Fourth Street and Speight Avenue and professional photographs will be made available to the first 400 students and alumni in attendance.
Students should dress professionally, bring several copies of their resume, research the attending companies and bring their student ID, according to the HireABear’s event website.
Josh Moorman, a May 2014 alumnus, said background research is one of the most valuable things a student can do to make the most of these career fairs.
Moorman said he got his first internship with Capstone Mechanical as the result of a career fair and now works for Jacobs Engineering Group in Fort Worth as a mechanical engineer in training as a result of the spring 2014 science, technology, engineering and math job fair.
“You feel silly coming in and saying, ‘Please tell me what your company does’,” Moorman said. “The recruiters have been talking to people all day and don’t want to have to tell you about their company.”
Moorman said students should be able to initiate a conversation and make something happen instead of waiting for it to happen. He said his preparation was what helped him get his job with Jacobs, which is listed by Engineering News Report as the second best design firm in the world.
“If you want to have success, you’ve got to break the monotony,” Moorman said. “Being able to have an intelligent conversation speaks to your research of the company and to you as a person.”
Tyler Noblett, a May 2013 alumnus, said he agreed that prior research of employers is key to success along with going to numerous fairs to gain experience.
In the span of three years, Noblett said, he attended around seven career fairs.
“It wasn’t a fun thing to do, but it was very beneficial,” Noblett Said. “Going to so many made me more confident when I went my senior year to actually get a job.”
His junior year Noblett applied for internships at a career fair and said out of five internships he applied for, he only got two primary interviews, with no callbacks.
“I didn’t go in confident,” Noblett said. “Recruiters can feel that and you don’t have a lot of time to make a good impression.”
Spring semester of his senior year, however, Noblett said he had more than enough experience with fairs to make him comfortable with the employers and he received two job offers as a result.
“Your attitude is really important to succeeding at the fairs,” Noblett said. “Go in thinking you’re going to make the most of it.”
Information about today’s HireABear career fair can be found at https://www.baylor.edu/cpd/.
