By Mark Carreon
The Hire-A-Husky Job Fair on Wednesday offered opportunities for students to find employment and internships while simultaneously pursuing their education. The fair took place at East Los Angeles College’s South Gate campus.
Tori Saruwatari, a graduate career intern for the ELAC Career and Job Services Center, said these events bring opportunities to students who may not be aware of the companies around the area. She also said that these events help build a sense of community on campus.
Saruwatari says,“Preparation is key when applying for employment.” Saruwatari encourages students to do their research prior to the interview.
“Being able to ask questions that are unique to a specific company will make students stand out more to that potential employer.” Saruwatari said.
Students can also prepare for future employment by having their resumes proofread and doing mock interviews. Both can be done at the career center on the main and South Gate campuses.
Multiple vendors were asked how important it is to have effective writing and verbal communication skills in the workforce.
All the employers stressed that having effective verbal communications skills is important to have because customer service is a big part of business and being able to communicate to a customer effectively is always great for business.
Organizations and businesses lean heavily on emails as a major resource of communications in order to run a successful operation.
Businesses exist in the digital world. Keeping up with the current technologies and being able to effectively and efficiently apply skills to the position being appliedfor is what will make for a lengthy employment.
Basic literacy in Microsoft office software, and social media will also increase an applicants chances of being hired.
The ELAC Learning Center, which is located at E-3 280, offers one-on-one peer assistance and Peer Assistance Study Programs (PASS), which helps students with microsoft office programs.
Students can aslo sign up for “Microcomputer Software Survey in the Office,” or “Microcomputer Office Applications: Spreadsheet.” Both courses will be offered in the fall and will teach students the ins and outs of microsoft software.
The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power is currently offering internships for engineering and architecture students to work as drafting technicians.
Students in the Engineering and architecture majors who have 12 units and have experience in Computer Aided Drafting Design (CADD) software automatically qualified for a drafting tech position. Once the student can prove they can use the CADD software, they can then qualify for LADWP tuition assistance.
For students who missed out on the South Gate Job Fair, there will be another one on ELAC’s main campus tomorrow.
This can be an opportunity to show off what you have learned and to get some practice in for future job interests.
Nike, Los Angeles Department of Water and power, LA County Sheriff’s Department, The Broad Museum, Mom’s Home Care and more will be looking to hire Huskies to who are a fit for their company.
Hire A Husky job fair will be held Thursday, May 16th from 10 a.m.-2 p.m., F-5 201 Multipurpose room.