The Office of Career Services will host their annual Career and Internship Fair on Oct. 8. At the career fair, undergraduate students of all majors can meet with potential employers to discuss resumes as well as job and internship opportunities.

“Networking is a skill that you absolutely need to develop,” Michele Tapp, director of academic advising and career services, said. “It’s not just about, ‘Oh, I get the job and then I’m set, and then a few years later I’ll apply for another job.’ It’s all about starting to build a network and understanding the value of that. This is the first baby step that students can take to start interacting with people that are in their field or maybe people that aren’t in their field that they might have an interest in.”

Due to the popularity of the Career and Internship Fair, the Office of Career Services hopes that more than 500 students will attend. The fair will be from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m. in the Student Recreation Center-North.

"Our spring fair typically has more employers than the fall fair." Amy Aldridge, career specialist in Office of Career Services, said "We had a 120 employers in the spring. We’re on pace to possibly have 120 again this fall because the popularity of the fair is growing. Word is getting out, employers are approaching us about coming to the fair."

Tapp said that she knows that a lot of students show concerns about the fair,

“You might think I wouldn’t even know what to do, I wouldn’t know what to wear, I wouldn’t know what to say,” Tapp said. “I don’t know if I have my materials, I don’t know if my resume looks good, that’s why we have a week of events.”

The Career Fair Fashion Show will be at noon Oct. 5 in the University Center lobby. The fashion show will provide students examples of what is appropriate professional attire to wear to the fair. Each of the models in the fashion show will be wearing brand new clothes from Kohl’s.

“We have a fashion show on Monday over in the University Center just right out there for God and everybody to watch,” Tapp said. “So you don’t even have to have a ticket, you can just be having your Chick- Fil-A sandwich and you see a fashion show going on. And the whole purpose of it is what to wear, what not to wear.”

The Career Fair Boot Camp will be held twice. The boot camp will be at 4 p.m. Oct. 5 in the UC Program Lounge and at noon Oct. 7 in the UC Lobby. Tapp said that the purpose of the boot camp is for students to learn what they should prepare for before attending the fair.

Coffee and Resume Critiques will be from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. Oct. 5 in the UC Lobby. Students will be able to get a resume critique with Career Services and in return receives a free coupon for Starbucks.

Students also have the option of uploading their resume to RedConnect (https://semo-csm.symplicity.com/students/) Tapp said that RedConnect is an online software that students in utilize in pursuit of finding job and internship opportunities.

Students of all majors are encouraged to attend to the fair because there will be company representatives of most majors there. Ameren, Commerce Bank and the St. Louis College of Pharmacy are just a few of the employers that will be in attendance.

There have been success stories of students because of the fair.

“There was a guy I don’t remember what he landed, he was all excited because as he left he said ‘I got a job today,’” Aldridge said.

The only requirement that the Office of Career Services asks of students is to dress professionally. Tapp said that she wants students to look their best. At the fair there will even be “fashion police” not to deny entry but simply to make sure that students are representing themselves well.