The SU Career Center hosted its Fall Job and Internship fair, on Oct. 5, which allows Ship students to take advantage of the unique opportunity to meet over 120 possible employers.

Students were encouraged to dress professionally and bring copies of their resumes before learning about career opportunities from a wide variety of companies, such as East Penn Manufacturing, Ulta Beauty, Target, Clark Associates, Hershey Entertainment and Resorts, Deloitte Services and many more.

Upon entering, over 500 students wrote their name and major on a name tag. Students were also provided a Job and Internship Fair guidebook complete with a “job fair to-do list” with tasks such as preparing a brief verbal summary of their backgrounds and career interests, reviewing the employer directory and taking a new professional headshot at the LinkedIn Photo Booth provided at the fair.

“Our guidebooks not only share a little bit about the companies here today, but also include the majors, the positions, and also includes a point of contact,” Career Center Senior Director Victoria Kerr said. “If they don’t get the name of an employer here, they can follow up with the Career Center and we can make it happen.”

“We are lucky to have over 100 employers here today that are looking to hire and recruit some of our students,” SU Director of Internships and Experiential Learning Alix Rouby said. “They’re offering opportunities for full-time and part-time jobs as well as internships in a variety of majors. The hope is for our students to get in touch with those employers, make the first point of contact and hopefully get some of those opportunities that would eventually lead to full-time positions.”

Rouby noted that although the event is aimed towards students hoping to be hired upon graduation, first-year students are encouraged to attend as well. 

“Our hope for first-year students is for them to become more familiar with the concept of the fair as well as the environment,” Rouby said. “It can be very overwhelming for some students the first time they visit, so we are hoping for them to just walk through, see some of these opportunities, and plant those seeds for them in the future.”

The Job and Internship Fair is just one of the events held during the SU Career week, including events such as Resumania, an event where students are able to have their resumes reviewed by professionals before presenting them to companies at the fair. 

A Job and Internship Fair preparation workshop was also held on Tuesday, Oct. 3, which taught students skills such as how to present their elevator pitch, shake hands and present themselves for the fair.

“Career week hits all the points students should consider before attending the fair,” Rouby said. “Last Friday, we held our Professional Dress Closet Open House, which gives not only pointers, but also free professional clothing for students planning to attend.” 

“As the Senior Director of the Career Center, my focus is the students’ success, that happens in the classroom, by getting involved in organizations and clubs, and preparing students for the workforce,” Kerr said. “We hold these events so that students can make those connections with employers and get work-based learning opportunities, whether it be internships, full-time or part-time jobs.” 

“As a university, our focus is, ‘how do we create this holistic student that gets ready for the workforce, gets engaged in the classroom with our awesome faculty, and then begins thinking about post-graduation careers.” Kerr said. “It’s all about A. having fun, B. connecting and building partnerships, and C., preparing students for what they want to do for the rest of their lives.”

To learn more about internships or experiential learning opportunities to help your career journey, visit the Shippensburg University Career Center in CUB 108 or via email at career@ship.edu.

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