Career Fair employers offer tips to region's job seekers

Some say the hardest job is looking for employment. It's full of drudgery -- ironing the same interviewing suit two to three times a week and scanning the classified pages every morning. Wouldn't it be nice if there was just one central location, a virtual supermarket of employers just waiting to receive applicants, where a job seeker could go to essentially shop for a job opportunity?

On Tuesday, the Show Me Center will be transformed into such a place. About 50 companies from St. Louis to Memphis, Tenn., will set up booths to accept applications and talk to prospective employees for a wide variety of positions. It's the third annual Career Fair, sponsored by the sejobsonline.com and the Southeast Missourian.

Nancy Grand, recruitment specialist for the Southeast Missourian, said variety is a key to this event. She said it will have a wide range of employers -- from McDonald's to Wells Fargo to William Woods University -- looking to fill a number of different types of positions, including factory worker, entry-level sales and upper-level management. It will also be geared toward job seekers of all ages and levels of experience, from students to people who've been in the work force for 30 years. Last year, about 675 people came to the Career Fair to peruse job possibilities.

Tips for job seekers

Despite the more relaxed nature of the fair, employers who've participated in past events recommend that job seekers come to the fair as if they're going to an interview. For Janice Cook of Northwestern Mutual Financial Network, that means looking the part.

"Come dressed to impress," Cook said. "So many people come dressed in jeans and a sweat shirt. It's not that they aren't great people, but you should come dressed like you want to be there. Like you're looking to be interviewed."

To accommodate the possibility of several interviews, Cheryl Woodfin of Saint Francis Medical Center said it is also important that job seekers bring several copies of an updated resume, or notes on their work history to help fill out applications.

Woodfin is an employment specialist with Saint Francis, and she said that her company, like many, will be there in search of applicants for a wide range of positions, each requiring a different set of specific skills. So it's vital that the job seekers have an idea of what type of position they're qualified for and interested in, she said.

Linda Laws, human resources specialist with TG Missouri Corp., said that when she's evaluating a prospective employee, she wants them to know skills and goals, but she also wants them to know a bit about her company's background.

"It would be a good idea if they knew some basics of TG Missouri and what we do," Laws said. "I like when the candidates are as passionate about TG Missouri as I am."

Vice president Joe Rozier of Workforce Employment Solutions said the attitude shown is also important. Rozier's company is a staffing and recruiting firm that recruits for 400 companies in the area and throughout the Midwest.

Although most companies don't keep track of how many people they've ended up employing through the annual Career Fair, all past participants agree that they are going to be there to seriously look for people to join their companies.

"We're definitely looking," Cook said. "That's what we're there for."

trehagen@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 137