James Ostarly (left), a freshman majoring in physics, and
Samantha Huang (middle), a freshman majoring in ecology, receive handouts from
Domonique Morley (right), a senior majoring in biology  who is employed at the
Pennington Student Activity Center. 
The Lions Roar/ Maria Goddard

Employers from around 30 local and regional companies made their way to the part-time job fair to hire.

The job fair presented by the Office of Career Services was held on Aug. 28 from 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. outside the Student Union. It provided an opportunity for companies to draw in students seeking employment.

“Our general mission is to try to create a bridge and for Career Services to act as a link or liaison between employers that have an interest in hiring our students and the students themselves,” said Career Services Director Kenneth Ridgedell. “We started offering these part-time job fairs because we felt that students could certainly gain something from us assisting them and bringing employers more conveniently to them.”

With a variety of employers looking for new hires, those looking for work have a plethora of options.

“Typically we get some of the same employers each semester that do enjoy coming and heavily rely on our job fair for their students because they like having Southeastern students for employees, which is a great thing,” said Brittany Bacques, assistant director at Career Services. “We get some new ones, too. The New Orleans Pelicans are new and looking for entertainment staff for their basketball games, so that’s really neat.”

Career fair representative for the pelicans assured students that the hiring process is not as tough as people make it out to be.

“The New Orleans Pelicans are looking for energetic, reliable and hardworking Pelicans fans to audition for this season’s Swoop Troop Interactive Squad,” said Lindsey Hages, live programming and entertainment coordinator for the New Orleans Pelicans. “They would just have to come out and audition Saturday, Sept. 13 at the Pelicans Practice Facility in Metairie.”

All the businesses are looking for someone with adaptable qualities, characteristics and skills.

“More universal things that I think that they’re looking for in applicants in our students are things such as being timely, prompt to come to work, showing organization, looking for someone who is friendly, who has good communication skills, someone who is showing responsibility,” said Ridgedell.

Students and alumni spent their time speaking with managers, assistants, representatives, and employers about different available positions. They also filled out applications, turned in resumes and received complimentary gifts, such as free food or fans.

 “You have to have a good personality, smile, good eye contact. Know what you want. Don’t just apply for anything available. People [employees] tend to stay with you if you put them in a position that they actually want to work in,” said Jim Robison, manager of Cracker Barrel in Hammond.

Students enjoyed that there was more than just jobs being offered; other work was being offered as well.

“There are a lot of different jobs offered here,” said Salvador Battaglia, a sophomore accounting major. “Not just jobs, but also internships and volunteer work that would look good on a future resume. I wanted to see what they [the companies] were doing on a daily basis, their mission and what they could offer me as a student here at Southeastern.”

For more information on upcoming events and job opportunities, please visit the Career Services page found on the university website.