As students approach graduation, there are steps they can take to prepare for finding a job in their field. Grand Valley State University’s Career Services offers several different tools to help students get ready for the job searching process.

Rachel Becklin, assistant director of Career Services, said the office’s main focus is to find different ways to connect students to employers. Career Services often hosts industry-specific workshops, brings students to different employers or companies, and brings employers to conduct interviews right on campus.

“The connection piece is our main goal,” Becklin said. “Job searching is an ongoing process. It’s a combination of meeting employers face-to-face and interacting with professors. The networking component is super important because a lot of jobs are based on referrals. You can’t solely rely on the Internet for looking for a job or an internship.”

Becklin said Career Services also offers mock interviews, where students can dress like they would for an actual interview and practice different questions in front of a camera.

“For the mock interviews, we go through a 10 to 15 minute interview and focus on different types of questions that are likely to come up in an interview,” Becklin said. “We go over what to prepare for, what types of questions to anticipate, what employers are looking for, and how to best tailor your responses. It’s a great way to see how the person is communicating verbally and nonverbally, and most students find this helpful.”

In addition to the job searching assistance, Becklin said there are many other outside resources available. These services include LakerJobs, where online postings of internships and professional career opportunities are listed. The GVSU Alumni Association also consists of employers who want to be a resource for students.

“Overall, departments and faculty are very supportive in assisting students to be prepared for the job searching process,” Becklin said. “It’s a university-wide commitment to make campus an opportunity for students to find a better job for themselves.”

Becklin said the office will host a job fair Feb. 21 at the DeVos Convention Center from 1-5 p.m. In order to prepare for this, Career Services will offer 10-minute walk-in appointments on Feb. 19-21 for Career Service employees to review and revise students’ resumes before the career fair.

“There will be 200 employers there (at the job fair), ranging from healthcare, government, to nonprofit,” Becklin said. “There will be over 8,000 internship and job opportunities that cover disciplines in all majors.”

She said not only upcoming graduates should attend the fair, but lowerclassmen, as well.

“Many first-year and second-year students attend these fairs to look to see what types of careers they can use with different majors,” Becklin said. “Students can explore and talk to employers about how they can apply different majors to different career fields. Students that are merely research gathering should dress business casual.”

For further information about job searching, call Career Services at 616-331-3311 or visit the site at www.gvsu/edu/careerservices. To sign up for a LakerJobs account, go to www.gvsu/edu/lakerjobs.
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