Whether pressured by parents, motivated by impending graduation or repulsed by the thought of spending another summer at the same job from high school, students looking for career opportunities and internships are in luck. The Career Services office will be hosting a series of events in the coming weeks that will help students prepare for life beyond Trinity.

To get students’ job search processes off on the right foot, Career Services will first be hosting an Interview for Success workshop on Feb. 3 from 5:30-7:30 p.m. in the Skyline room. Here, recruiters and advisors will teach tips and tricks in a group setting, then students will get  to work one-on-one with the advisors to practice the interview skills they learn.

“It will be a workshop where people will learn how to have a good interview,” said senior and peer career consultant Julie Robinson. “I feel like most people think they know a lot of skills, but there are some tips and tricks that I think everyone will get something out of. It’s also going to be a workshop in the sense that we’ll also have people that they can actually practice the interviews with as well”

The spring workshop will be the first of its kind in that those facilitating the event have been brainstorming to develop a format for the workshop unique to any that have been previously held at Trinity.

“Previously we would have an Interview for Success panel where we would bring in recruiters and ask them questions and then the students could ask whatever questions they had. Then we had another program that would happen the next day called Professional Practice Interview Day where students could sign up for time slots and go in and do a mock interview with a recruiter,” said LadyStacie Rimes-Boyd, assistant director for programming and marketing for  the office of career services. “I think that that seemed to be a little bit more restrictive. We all put our heads together and decided we would do one program called Interview for Success that is a combination of the two.”

Rimes-Boyd encourages students to bring resumes to the workshop although it is not required. She says that at the end of the workshop, the recruiters and advisors will be able to give feedback to the whole audience after meeting and practicing with individual students.

“We’ll  gather together at the end and the recruiters will give more tips based on what they’ve seen from everyone who has come through their table and there will be a short reception during that time also. It makes it a more fun atmosphere,” Rimes-Boyd said.

Thinking about applying for a job or internship can be intimidating, so the workshop aims to ensure that students are confident and prepared.

“I’m thinking about getting internships because they are a very important segway into finding a career,” said junior Dylan McGee. “I think [the workshop] is a great idea. I believe practice makes perfect and interviewing is not something many students have practice on. I think it would be extremely valuable to hear tips from people with years of experience.”

For students who are feeling the pressure to prepare for the job and internship search, this workshop comes just in time.

“This is prime time for seniors in the job hunt and its right before the career fair as well so it will make you feel a little more confident and prepared going into those events,” Robinson said.

After preparing, practicing and perfecting skills for an outstanding interview, students will be ready to make connections with possible employers that they can meet at the Spring Career Fair, which will take place on Feb. 10 from 11 a.m. until 3 p.m. in Laurie Auditorium. Here, representatives from various companies will be available to provide information about companies where students could potentially land jobs in the future.        

“I think every student needs to go to the career fair, and it doesn’t matter what your year is,” Rimes-Boyd said. “Even if you’re a first year, you can be seeing what types of companies are at the career fair and which ones you might want to be looking at for internships.”

Rimes-Boyd says that students may be surprised by who they meet and what they learn at the career fair. She encourages students to branch out and start conversations with people from companies they might not think they are suited for.

“You really want to look at every company that comes through because many of them hire all majors. We usually try to get companies that have multiple areas they’re hiring from,” Rimes-Boyd said. “Students will go to the career fair and end up chatting with someone and be surprised to find out what opportunities come up. Just having those conversations can open up a myriad of doors.”

Senior engineering major Shawn Sunday attended a past career fair, and the connections he made there helped land him an internship.

“I went to the Career Fair to find an internship [and] talked to representatives from Silver Spring Networks, USAA, Valero,  Tesoro and Southwest Research Institute,” Sunday said. “I got an internship with Silver Spring Networks [and have been working there] for over a year now.”

Students should bring multiple copies of their resumes to the career fair and dress in professional attire. For help building a resume, students can visit the Office of Career Services, located on the second floor of Coates, above the bookstore. Walk-in hours are from 1:30-4 p.m. Monday through Friday.