During their time at Southeastern, students meet lifelong friends, learn to become independent, deepen their knowledge of the world around them, gain inspiration from new ideas, and decide on the path they would like to follow. When students and alumni are ready to begin moving forward on their chosen path, or simply see where other roads could lead, Southeastern’s Career Fair is the answer.
On September 20, 2018, this annual event once again took place, with hundreds of hopeful students and graduates flooding into the Pennington Student Activity Center eager to embark on their career journeys. Resumes in hand and donning their most polished, professional attire, one-by-one they confidently approached some of the 380 representatives (nearly a third of whom were fellow alumni) from the 168 organizations that were present.
Recognizing the well-rounded quality of a Southeastern education, many of the employers on site were interested in networking with and hiring Southeastern students of any major. “Students were engaging and very enthusiastic; they asked lots of good questions, even when the job field was not in their major,” noted one employer. About 70 percent of the organizations there were open to students and alumni of any major —elevating the career prospects of attendees.
Attendees were also not limited by a certain type of position. In addition to 158 employers looking to fill full-time, post-graduation level positions, 65 of the organizations hoped to find interns and 70 sought part-time employees.
The advantage of attending didn’t stop at in-person networking. Upon entering, the first thing that many students flocked to was a set-up offering professionally photographed LinkedIn headshots free of charge—tapping in to the growing necessity of social media networking for broadening career prospects. Through this new Career Fair offering, over 185 Southeastern students were able to build a more polished social media presence by having their headshot professionally taken.
The day was a major success for both employers and attendees, with countless lasting, impactful connections formed between the two. Students and alumni were also able to leave better prepared to follow their chosen path—or start on a freshly discovered one.
As one student commented, “I have been given a large amount of opportunities today to help me in the future.”
