On March 18th from 10:00 am – 3:00 pm the Office of Career Services and Pre-Professional Programs hosted a Virtual Career and Internship Fair which was held on Handshake.
The Fair was held to help students to get affiliated with specific companies that they were interested in. All participants had to create a Handshake account and upload an updated resume for the companies’ representatives to review. In order to join the Fair individuals had to register and create a schedule by selecting the times that they wanted to visit the employers of their choice. While selecting times, there were one-on-one sessions as well as group sessions.
The Fair consisted of 40 plus companies searching for new employees to recruit. Some of the corporations participating in the event were Penn National Gamming, the Peace Corps, RPA Advertising, ConvergeOne, Biogen, Hormel Foods Corporation, INROADS and the California Department of Parks and Recreation.
During 10:00 am until 10:30 am the Peace Corps hosted a group session where they informed students on what their organization was about. The Peace Corps is an international service organization which began on March 1, 1961. It sends volunteers abroad for 27 months to countries who need assistance where the volunteers work on projects at community based levels. The Peace Corps has highlighted 60 years of volunteerism, friendship, and promoting peace abroad. The company’s mission is to promote world peace and friendship through three goals. The first goal is to help people in countries of interest in meeting their need for trained individuals while the second and third goal is about cross cultural exchange to help promote a better understanding of Americans to the countries’ citizens who are in need.
In order to qualify to become a member of the Peace Corps you have to be at least 18 years of age and a U.S. citizen. Due to Covid-19 restrictions there are currently no volunteers in the field, but the Peace Corps does plan to return volunteers to service at the end of 2021 and into early 2022. Kat Joiner, a recruiter for the Peace Corp, stated, “95 percent of volunteers have an undergraduate degree. You do not have to have a degree, but most countries are looking for volunteers that do have at least a Bachelor’s degree. Being in college, you are definitely on your way to being qualified to serve with the Peace Corp.” Volunteers are able to serve within six sectors which consist of agriculture, environment, youth development, health, education, and community economic development.
Next up from 10:30 am until 10:40 am was Penn National Gaming. This company is the largest gaming establishment in the United States. It has over 40 casinos throughout the country. The company has been around for 27 years. The jobs currently available within the company are human resources, casino operations, housekeeping, marketing, accounting and finance. In order to qualify for any position at the casino you have to be at least 21 years of age. Perri Johnson, Human Resource Business Partner, stated, “I have a job fair scheduled for Saturday, March 27th, from 8:00 am until 1:00 pm in the administrative office at the casino in Vicksburg, Mississippi. As of now, I will be recruiting for over 50 positions. Due to Covid-19 restrictions we will continue to do screenings and keep social distancing.”
The next session was from 11:30 am until 12:00 pm with ConvergeOne. The company, which was established in 1993, is a leading IT service provider of collaboration and technology solutions for large and medium enterprises. For the past three years ConvergeOne has been considered as one of the top class network companies. Currently the company has two internship positions available which focus on sales and project management. If interested, go to the ConvergeOne website and visit their career page. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic the internships will be held virtually. Eric Mesenburg, Manager of Talent Acquisition at ConvergeOne, told students that during the interview process for the internship to, “Be yourself and answer the questions to the best of your ability and you will do just fine.”
One of the final sessions was held from 12:30 pm until 1:00 pm with the Hormel Foods Corporation. The company was founded in 1891. Within the company they have resource groups such as Hormel Young Professional Enterprise (HYPE), Hormel Foods Women’s Insights Network (WIN), Hormel African American Resource Group (HAARG) and more. The company has internships for deserving students who would like to become a member of the Hormel family. In order to qualify for the internships the student must be a Junior or Senior in college. If all of the internships are gone, then the company has entry level positions available ranging from production supervisor, quality control, engineering, cooking, marketing and sales.
To find out more information about these events contact the Office of Career Services and Pre-Professional Programs at (601) 877-6324 or (601) 877-6246. To find jobs and make appointments, join Handshake at https://alcorn.joinhandshake.edu.