As the holiday season approaches, students are able to see what jobs are available to them as the Cerritos College Career Services Center prepares for its yearly fall job fair.

The fair will take place on Wednesday, Oct. 24 from 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Cerritos College Library sidewalk.

The job fair is open to students as well as to the general public.

According to Career Services, representatives for paid jobs, military, and internships will be in attendance.

Career Services program assistant Rose Vasquez, who estimates that the Career Services Job Fair has been around for over 40 years, spoke about the main goal of the fair.

“The ultimate goal is to connect employers with the students and the people that are looking for a job,” Vasquez said.

In order to prepare people for the job fair, career services held two workshops titled “Resume Writing Basics.”

The first workshop, led by Disabled Student Programs and Services counselor Aurora Segura, was held on Tuesday, Oct. 2 in BE-6 and the second workshop, led by career counselor Traci Ukita, was held on Thursday, Oct. 18 in the Career Services Office.

Ukita will be conducting another “Resume Writing Basics” workshop on Tuesday, Oct. 23 from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. in the Career Services Office.

Segura also held a “Job Fair Strategies” workshop on Wednesday, Oct. 10 from 11 a.m. until noon in SS – 138.

Jorge Rios, Career Services Job Placement technician, feels that promoting the event outside of campus will help raise awareness.

“Not only do we place flyers all over the school campus, we also send flyers to the City of Norwalk, City of Downey, and even libraries,” Rios said.

He stated that he is happy about the employers that will be at the fair.

“We (have) Costco, SMG Catering, Target, Los Angeles Airport. We have some really great, solid employers.”

Ukita said that students need take the time to research what employers want.

“Students need to become familiar with the language that they (employers) use to describe the knowledge, skills, and abilities that they want in a successful job candidate and really take time to gather that type of information.”

Career Services suggests the following:

Prepare yourself

• Look the fair over (conduct a visual tour) before you actually start talking to employers

Give some thought as to why you are at the fair

• What are your goals?
• What skills do you have to offer?
• What are you looking for?
• What do you want to learn the most?

Dress Code

• Dress professionally, but comfortable
• The most important thing is to be neat, clean, and well groomed
• Avoid excessive jewelry and perfume/cologne

What to say and do

• Introduce yourself to the representative in a positive and confident manner
• Offer a firm handshake and a smile
• Speak clearly and confidently
• Take a minute or two to describe yourself, your work interests and abilities
• Ask to fill out an application if you are interested in the position(s) offered
• Pick up any literature on the table
• Ask for a business card
• Shake hands and thank the representative for his time

Remember to

• Market yourself. Let the employers know why you are a good candidate for the job
• Be on your toes. Recruiters want to see how well you handle pressure and how well you can think on your feet.

Ukita spoke on what advice she gives to help students with things such as resumes.

“It depends on what (experience) the student is coming in with. Some students don’t really have any experience with a resume and I’ll first have to help them with understanding what a resume’s for and the different components of a resume.

“Other students have a little bit more experience having worked on a resume before and for them, they might come in with a version of a resume that they have already put together and then I can take a look at it and provide some feedback.”