Nicholls hosts dozens of employers on Career Day

About 60 employers, including representatives from graduate and professional schools, attended Nicholls State University’s Career Day from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 3 in the Cotillion Ballroom.

Along with the opportunity to speak to businesses, Nicholls Career Services set up mock interviews, resume critiques and a headshot station for those in attendance.

One tip Kristie Tauzin Goulas, director of career services, gave is that although there is no mandatory dress code for Career Day, if not dressed appropriately, some employers may find this disrespectful. Employers want to see students ready to engage in a networking session.

“A lot of employers will tell you, the more times they are engaged by students who have a clear understanding of what their career path is, where they want to work and the kind of work they want to do, they remember those students from year to year,” Goulas said.

When an employer recognizes a student, they are likely to spend more time with a student and progress to an interview process.

Goulas said she hopes to see more students taking advantage of that opportunity.

Although only spending 20 minutes in the ballroom, Aarati Pant, finance major from Nepal, said she had good conversations with businesses she was interested in. Companies like John Deere and Bank of America are two firms she would like to intern at and possibly work.

Pant said the companies gave her good details about the internship, and she is hopeful looking forward.

Goulas said that a company like Raising Canes may be recruiting members to work in local stores, but a good crew member could be a store manager or one day be working in marketing. Sometimes companies have policies where they only promote from within, and there is no way to work up but by starting in an entry-level position.

Goulas said that those are companies that are promoting company loyalty and teamwork.

Goulas gave examples of Coca Cola having some great part-time positions in distributing and sales. Waffle House has an amazing management training program for students to go in and manage a franchise, providing opportunities to relocate all over the US or supervise other individuals and crewmembers.

Andrew Liang, mass communication major from Destrehan, said there needs to be a bigger variety for students trying to find their career, and all he saw were booths that fell under business or marketing. Even after stopping at booths such as Canes and Coca Cola, Liang said it is not like working for their actual business.

“Companies are not always coming to hire the senior that is graduating. They are coming to engage any Nicholls student looking to build a resume and build a career along their way,” Goulas said.