Katie Chitwood:

Hello and welcome to Work Like a Laker podcast. This is not Megan Riksen, as you can probably tell. My name is Katie Chitwood and I am one of the interns in our GVSU Career Center intern cohort.

Sheridan Maske:

And my name is Sheridan Maske and I am also one of our interns in the GVSU Career Center office. But we will be your host for this episode. So Katie, tell our viewers a little bit about what an intern cohort is and what do we do?

Katie Chitwood:

Yeah, absolutely. So our intern cohort is really special and it's really unique to the Career Center I think. There's actually six of us and we were all hired at the beginning of the fall 2024 semester. We're here all year y'all. But pretty much what we do is we all have different jobs because Career Center, we have lots of different events, networking events for students different opportunities and resources that you guys all use and love and we need people to make that happen. And we kind of give that student perspective for their Career Center. So basically what we do as an intern cohort is we all have different jobs like doing data analytics, writing, social media event planning. We have so many different events like the career fair that you guys all attend and love. We have tons of different resources that we share that really just help you guys on your career path even throughout college, throughout your degree. We wanna make sure that we're here for you and we just like to give a little bit of that student perspective to the career center. But today is the intern takeover episode of the Work Like a Laker podcast.

Sheridan Maske:

Give us a drum, roll round of applause. Hoo haas and what have you nots, because we are here for all of your career fair needs. Okay?

Katie Chitwood:

Yes. The career fair is coming up y'all. It is coming up February 20th. So Sheridan, would you like to introduce our topic for today?

Sheridan Maske:

Oh my gosh, I thought you'd never ask. I feel so honored. Thank you. Okay y'all, so all jokes aside, career fair, like Katie said, happening Thursday, February 20th in the DeVos Convention Center downtown one to 5:00 PM. We have over 150 employers already registered. They're so excited to come meet you Lakers. So be there or be Square for real. Okay? But today we're gonna be talking a little bit more about the actual career fair itself. So you may have noticed in our other Work Like a Laker podcast episodes that we have tips on before the fair, after the fair, but never really during the fair. How many of you grew up on a show called Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide, Teen Nick, channel 1 33 on Comcast? I remember it vividly.

Katie Chitwood:

Oh yeah.

Sheridan Maske:

Oh so vividly. But we're gonna do our own little spin on that. So this is the Career Center's Declassified Career Fair Survival Guide, also self promo. Be sure to follow us at GVSU careers on all of our social media handles. We have some great tiktoks highlighting some fun in-office activities as well as our Instagram stories that are promoting all of our events. So you can stay up to date on the latest GVSU Career Center News. But before we get into this any further, I'm gonna go ahead and start with some introductions. So first and foremost, hey y'all, you've heard me talk so far, but I am Sheridan Maske. I am one of our events management and employer relations interns in the office. And I'm currently studying human resources as a senior at Grand Valley. So I'm gonna go ahead and pass it off to my colleague Le.

Le Nguyen:

Alright. Hi, my name is Le. I'm a social media and marketing intern here at the Career Center. My role is managing our social media to promote events like the career fair and Employer showcase to help students stay informed and prepare for those events. I'm super excited to be here today with all of my friends.

Shelby Huerta:

Hi everyone, my name is Shelby Huerta. I'm a senior studying advertising and public relations and like my friend Le, my job is social media intern. But for me I specifically work with adult learners and alumni. So I just make sure those communities are represented in our posts and our feed to make sure everyone is getting the information they need. And I'm gonna pass it over to Lauryn.

Lauryn Babb:

Hey y'all. I'm Lauryn Babb. I am a psychology and statistics major and my role is the data analytics intern. I'm kind of the nerd of the interns, so I just sit on my computer all day looking at data and I've never been to the career fair before, so I'm like a newbie to all of this.

Katie Chitwood:

Y'all already know who I am. I am Katie Chitwood. I, well I was speaking at the beginning of this episode, so I am the writing and communications intern for the career center. I am also a double major in writing and film and video production. I'm a junior. And then I've only ever been to one career fair and that was the fall 2024. So I can give some beginning tips as well.

Gracie Roginski:

Hi, I am Gracie Roginski. I am studying advertising here at Grand Valley. I am also minoring in marketing and photography. So a little bit of data, more fun aspects though I, I've been to the career fair a few times and I absolutely love it. It's been better and better every time, but being able to actually work through it this time is so amazing. I'm just thankful that I am able to work with the events management and marketing team as an intern here.

Sheridan Maske:

All right y'all, so enough about us. Let's get into today's episode where we are gonna be talking about all the tips you need to survive the career fair this winter. I am a career fair veteran. I have worked and gone as a student since my first semester of freshman year, which feels like forever ago. I swear to you. Like the Snapchat memory taught me. Okay guys, like it was bad that time of year. So let's get into it. I'm gonna go ahead and pass it off to Lauryn to go into our top 10 declassified career center survival guide, career fair tips.

Lauryn Babb:

Okay, so number one, you gotta keep calm. You're gonna walk in from what I've heard 'cause I've never been before, but you're gonna walk in and be very overwhelmed. Everybody says take a deep breath. But I've had anxiety going to like these types of events before and that does definitely help. But I feel like it's also all about your mindset going in. 'cause I always kind of thought it was all or nothing. Like if I don't get a job, I kind of failed this whole event. But there's actually a lot you can learn from just going. You can learn about your networking skills, you can learn about like other companies and what you might be looking for. And then also it helps to be prepared. So like having your elevator pitch down and then also like dressing up, doing your research a little bit and then just kind of knowing what the career fair is gonna look like helps a lot with anxiety. And that's what we're gonna tell you about today.

Katie Chitwood:

Definitely just take a deep breath and know you've got this. All right. And then for our second tip we have Gracie.

Gracie Roginski:

Awesome. So my name is Gracie and what I will be talking about is knowing your route in the career fair. And so by doing this, we have multiple different ways you can look at this. We have handshake, which is a great way you can plan ahead to see what employers are gonna be there. We not only list the employers, but we also list them by your career community, which can be like business and management, communication, arts, stem, et cetera. And that way you can figure out which employers are more tailored towards you. And by figuring out who the employers that you wanna see are is great. And once you get to the career fair, you'll actually able to see what booth they're at and everything This year will be color coded. Which will be amazing.

Katie Chitwood:

For our type A students, this is for you. This is for you!

Sheridan Maske:

Hollar at me y'all. Come on now.

Gracie Roginski:

So yes, once we will have a little key if you, so if you're in business and management you'll be orange. You can look for those orange colors. If you're stem, you look for the light green, we've got you covered. We decided to upgrade this year a little bit. Spend a little extra more money and make it easier for you. But once again, know your route because you know what? It makes life easier. But also know that if you don't know your route, that's perfectly fine. Students are walking around everywhere. So like Lauryn said, take a deep breath. Everyone has anxiety. I have anxiety. It's not good. But you know what, we all live with it. We love it. And just add it to who you are because you know what that makes you, you.

Sheridan Maske:

Okay? Okay. You ate with that last line. It makes you you. So remember that guys, when you're taking that deep breath, remember you know your route, you know where you're gonna go and hopefully that route takes you to our ready room to get you further prepared. So Shelby, what can you tell us about the ready room?

Shelby Huerta:

Yeah, of course. So the ready room and I'm gonna reference one of our TikToks we made. So my friend Le made a TikTok last year for the prior career fair. And in this TikTok we pointed out the get ready room. And why this is so important is you can come in thinking I'm prepared, I'm ready. And I know you are. I bet you are. But it never hurts to check your teeth because if you're like me and you've left the house and you didn't look and there's spinach in your teeth, there's nothing worse than somebody at the table saying, do you know you have something in your teeth? Yeah, no, don't recommend. My friend Le and I filmed a TikTok last year, like we said. And throughout this video we showcase the aspects of the get ready room. Le, would you like to tell 'em what we have?

Le Nguyen:

So we actually have a snack area so you can just grab snack to fuel your energy, boost your confidence, and we also have some photos you can grab it to make sure your resume and everything is in place. Going to the ready room is a great way to calm your nerves, make some final preparations before stepping into the fair, feeling confident and ready to connect.

Katie Chitwood:

Yeah, absolutely. I think it's a great, using the ready room is a great way to get yourself mentally prepared but also physically prepared. We've got career center advisors there, career center staff. So definitely like if you have any questions, go and ask them. And also like said guys, there's cookies. Who doesn't want a cookies?

Sheridan Maske:

Oh my gosh, they're so good.

Katie Chitwood:

Chocolate chip cookies, y'all. Like this is good.

Sheridan Maske:

It's like those good cookies too where they're like chocolate chips melt in your hands, just don't wipe 'em on your suit pants y'all, I beg.

Katie Chitwood:

Yeah they've got chocolate chip cookies and napkins so you don't wipe the chocolate on your suit that you please y'all, that you ironed or steamed to get ready for this lot work event lot work, yes. But there are also career center staff there to help answer all your questions and just we wanna tell you a little bit more about our resources that we have in that room And that's actually our next tip. So Gracie, you wanna jump into that?

Gracie Roginski:

Yeah. So a lot of the resources have kind of been discussed a little already. The ready room being one of our biggest resources. We have some faculty and staff in there. So if you have any questions like, Hey, how should I approach this? Is this a good elevator pitch before you even talk to an employer, which is great. So with that you can definitely talk to people because asking for help is okay. Everybody needs help. I know I'm a senior this year, I still ask for help. I know my, I know my parents still ask for help sometimes, especially with the tech stuff, which is perfectly fine. So with that we have career center employees and staff members always walking around and helping. So they are super friendly. They'll be wearing like lake or blue, which is great. So you can always look for them if you have a question. And don't be embarrassed because we all have questions. But if you wanna take a step further and even before the career fair, the career center has tons of resources where they can look over your resume and they can help you do your elevator pitch. But we also have some of those resources at the career fair except for printing. You do have to print your resume before the career fair.

Sheridan Maske:

We'll be here to help though. Come see us 101 B Devos or 200 STU in Allendale for all you Allendale folks.

Katie Chitwood:

Yeah, a quick plug. We do have lots of career fair prep sessions before the fair. We are talking. This episode is tips on what to do actually during the career fair because we know I had no clue what it looked like. I know a lot of y'all dunno what it looks like. So this is about that. But take a look at our website, take a look at our events page, take a look on our socials, you'll see all the events where you can go get resume help, print your resume, get ready for this.

Gracie Roginski:

And one last thing in the ready room we have these great pad folios. I cannot t- they love the padfolios. People will steal them because they're so cool. So if you're gonna end up going to the career fair, which you should. I better see you all there. Please grab them. Yes, grab a padfolio because they will be gone in seconds.

Katie Chitwood:

And then our next tip number five, we have Sheridan.

Sheridan Maske:

Well, we're getting into being yourself. So as many of you can probably tell from my animated voice and for the girl sitting next to me in this room, no, I'm talking with my hands right now. I'm a very animated person and you can be as animated as you want at the career fair. I mean, don't be overbearing by any stretch of the means, right? We have that professional boundary in place. But be yourself. I was at the career fair and I wore my white platform boots and I actually had an employer message me and was like, oh my goodness, you were the girl that wore the white platform boots. And I was like, how did she remember that? Number one, like she did not remember my name, but she remembered the boots. And to this day, she's actually one of my LinkedIn contacts. She sends me different job postings that are available at her company, whether she wants me to apply for, if I know people that wanna apply for 'em. So building your network is half the battle. And when you're yourself, you never know, half of that network could just fall right into place. So remember that guys, be yourself. Stay true to you. It can only help you, right? But Katie, yeah, when I'm myself, how can I make sure that my mind is still open to things that might not be applicable to me in that sense?

Katie Chitwood:

Yeah, absolutely. So I feel like for me, I told you guys the only career fair I've ever been to was the one where I actually worked for the Career Center. And I can tell you that the reason I did not go before was because honestly, I thought the career fair was only for like business majors and accountants.

Sheridan Maske:

Myth busted!

Katie Chitwood:

Myth busted right there. No, as Gracie said, we have employers there for every single career community. We have education, healthcare, we have communications in the arts. Like there are opportunities there for everyone. So we want you to keep an open mind. That is the number six tip. Keep an open mind. You do not know who you're gonna meet, who you're gonna talk to. You can go to different employers. Even if there's, even if you're like an accounting major and you see Corewell Health over there and you're like, why would I go to Corewell Health? They're just looking for nurses. No, no. Every, every single business has a marketing department or an accounting department. Like go and just talk to people, meet people. Keep an open mind. Definitely like crazy said, know your route. Know which employers you wanna talk to. But definitely keep an open mind when you're walking in there because you're gonna meet people that you never expected to meet and you're gonna find opportunities that are really gonna shape your experience later.

Sheridan Maske:

Okay, Katie? So that was perfectly said. I couldn't have thought of anything better to say myself. Oh, thank you. You're so right about keeping an open mind and engaging with employers who, you know, you might not think you're gonna fall in their web of job networking, but you probably will. So keeping that in mind, Shelby, tell us a little bit about an elevator pitch that will help me be successful in interacting with diverse employers.

Shelby Huerta:

Like my friends have said, it's very important to remain true to yourself during the career in internship fair. Along with that comes your elevator pitch. Now you might be wondering what that is, if you're looking for a fun fact about that, stop by our office and talk to Troy, our director. He knows the history. I won't repeat it if he'll be, he'll say it for me actually. But beyond that, an elevator pitch is an important aspect to the career. In internship fair, this is where you're gonna sell yourself. Now, of course with other degrees it might be a little difficult. If you're an art major, you probably have to showcase your art and that's a little specific. But overall, everyone still needs an elevator pitch. You need to be able to sell yourself to potential employers. Why should they hire you? Why should they look at you? Now that doesn't mean you have to create stuff that's unnecessary. Come up with, you know, facts that aren't real. Anything like that. Just remain true to yourself. Present why you believe you're a great candidate and remember to keep it short and you'll do great.

Sheridan Maske:

Oh my gosh, no thank you because Troy did actually give me the history speech about elevator pitches. And it's so actually interesting and kind of funny how like that phrase was coined, but I couldn't have said it better myself. Like all about selling yourself and being like, this is why you want me at your company. Why do I want you in my workforce? So all about that two way street there. But kind of getting into that, Katie, what can you tell me about interviewing the employers, right? Because they're there for me, but I wanna know about them. So how do I do that?

Katie Chitwood:

No. Like, actually. That's something that I feel like so many people forget going into career fair guys. Yes, you want to impress these employers. You want to let them know who you are and let them know why you would be a great candidate for them. But also don't forget, you wanna like where you're gonna work. You wanna like the people you work with and you wanna know about the employers. You wanna know about who you are going to work for, who you're gonna be doing math and stats, like our little Lauryn over here. You wanna know who you're gonna be writing for, like all of these different things. So interview the employers. Now, don't make it super intimidating. You don't have to be like, oh my gosh, like what are your company's biggest strengths and weaknesses?

Sheridan Maske:

Please don't do that. Please, please don't.

Katie Chitwood:

Please do not be scary, aggressive. But you definitely want to get to know them. Ask them questions. You wanna ask them like what does a typical day in your office look like? Or even just saying like, oh, like do you have, do you enjoy where you work? Do you like the company culture there? Can you tell me a little bit about it? Prepare some questions, get to know them because at the end of the day they also are trying to impress you. Remember this, they want people to come work for them. That is why they're at their career fair. So just ask 'em a few questions, get to know 'em, get to know what they have prepared for you.

Sheridan Maske:

Thank you so much for saying that because I feel like one of the most intimidating parts is we finally figure out what to say, right? We have, we're true to yourself, we have that deep breath, we know where we're going, we have all our resources in that elevator pitch in our back pocket ready to go. And we get up there and we're like, okay, I have no idea what this company even does. So don't panic. It's okay to be like, oh, I've never heard of your company before. Could you tell me a little bit more of what your day-to-day operations look like? That is such a great question because remember these recruiters are there to recruit. They're there to get you to their company and in the door, in your face, in the media for them. It's all about that two-way relationship. Yes. But once you're interviewing the employers, I feel like a big thing that students often forget and the thrill of it all. Oh yeah. Is getting that contact information. So Le is gonna share with you some of the hottest tips on making sure that contact information does not get lost and that network is only expanding.

Le Nguyen:

Alright, so you have had a good conversation with the employers. What next? So one of the most important step that people usually ignore is following up with employers you talk to. So it's a chance to keep the conversation going and it makes you stand out from other candidates. So after talking to them, ask them for their business card. You can start by sending a thank you email. Like, hi, I really enjoyed talking with you about this specific role at the career fair. And I'm excited about the possibility to contributing to your company. Also, you can connect with them on LinkedIn as well. Write them a message. It makes them feel like you're serious about this opportunity and you want to contribute to the company. So following up is such a simple but effective way to connect with employers and keep the connection alive. It will be opening doors for your opportunities in the future. So please don't let it end at the career fair. Instead, make the most of it by staying proactive and reaching out.

Katie Chitwood:

Okay Le, I literally could not have said that any better myself. Contact information is so important. You guys, like I know like you are showing up for yourself just by going to the career fair, but you are showing those employers that you will show up for them if you are asking for this contact information. If you're showing that you're willing to take that next step and actually move forward in employment with them. So do not forget, I mean if you guys have business cards go you, you're ahead of me. But like you can give them your contact information too, for sure. But also ask them, Hey, is there an email? Is there someone that I can connect with to talk more about this? 'cause I have so many more questions, they're gonna remember that for sure. So speaking of remembering you Sheridan, do you wanna get into our final survival guide tip?

Sheridan Maske:

All right listeners, congratulations. You've made it through your survival guide. Round of applause for all of you. So proud. Absolutely. But like Katie said, showing up for yourself so important, especially in the year of 2025, we are putting ourself first and we are studying healthy boundaries. But getting into leaving your mark, leaving your market, the career fair seems like such a daunting and honestly unfathomable task because you're there with so many employers and so many students and you're overwhelmed and they all probably had been listening to this podcast as well and are using the same tips. But how am I gonna make sure that I leave my mark by being authentic, genuine, and professional? Those skills are so transferable and so highly valued by employers that those are the kind of impressions that stick with people asking those questions. Getting that contact information and following up only furthers your mark in that company. So with that being said, thank you guys so much for listening to our declassified Career Center Survival Guide. And I'm gonna pass it over to Katie because I feel like my co-host is killing it.

Katie Chitwood:

Oh, thank you. Thank you so much. I feel like every single intern killed it today. So round of applause for the

Sheridan Maske:

Sensational Six is here to stay.

Katie Chitwood:

Yes, we are here. We are it here. Yeah, we just wanna thank you guys so much for listening. And we really just wanna encourage you guys, guys go to career fair. I'm telling you right now, you are not gonna regret it. Even if you just go the experience even just to, you know, go walk around. Go get a cookie. Yeah, go get a cookie. Go get a cookie. Reminder. It is Thursday, February 20th, 1:00 PM two 5:00 PM at the DeVos Place Convention Center. Look up our website. Go to the career Center website. You can see all of our prep events. Follow our Instagram, follow our TikTok. You'll see some of our smiling faces. Not just our voices on here.

Sheridan Maske:

And just remember too, guys, that the DeVos Convention Center is downtown. It is not 101 B DeVos where we are coming at you live from right now. It will be downtown. So hop on that bus and get there.

Shelby Huerta:

And don't forget the Laker Line. It's happy to take you there. It's first class service. You'll arrive with a bunch of other people, so don't be nervous.

Gracie Roginski:

Absolutely. And it's only two stops. It's only the second stop after the Pew campus, so it's not that much further out of reach. And I kid you not, it literally stops right at the building. So you just walk straight in and you've got it.

Katie Chitwood:

Well, we have had so much fun talking to you guys today. Thank you so much for listening to us. Oh my goodness. We will catch you on the next Work Like a Laker podcast!

Sheridan Maske:

Peace out y'all. Bye!