BREAKING NEWS 3
Published 12:00 am Friday, June 19, 2015
Though they aren’t quite ready to start applying for jobs themselves, Finch-Henry Job Corps students DeShunda Brown and Dalton Dahlem are already well-informed about what to do and how to dress for a job interview. They will be among F-H students helping out at next week’s Northwest Mississippi Area Job Fair at the Batesville Civic Center.
Though they aren’t quite ready to start applying for jobs themselves, Finch-Henry Job Corps students DeShunda Brown and Dalton Dahlem are already well-informed about what to do and how to dress for a job interview. They will be among F-H students helping out at next week’s Northwest Mississippi Area Job Fair at the Batesville Civic Center.
Brown and Dahlem will be on hand to assist vendors at the June 18 event. So far, 45 companies and agencies have registered to participate, with potential job opportunities ranging from nursing to shipbuilding to cosmetic sales. (For a complete list of participants and job offerings, visit mdes.ms.gov.)
About 750 job seekers attended last year’s Job Fair in Batesville, and for those planning to talk with employers next Thursday, Brown and Dahlem have plenty of pointers. As participants in a national program whose goal is to send them to jobs, they’ve been schooled in appropriate attire and behavior when applying for a job.
It’s all about attitude, Brown said.
“Be positive,” the 19-year-old Greenwood native said. “You came for a job. That’s what you’re there for.”
Brown, who serves as secretary of the F-H Center’s Student Government Association, reminds job seekers to “make eye contact, have good posture.”
She’s enrolled in the center’s office assistant and nursing assistant programs.
Dahlem, 21, from Hamilton, is studying culinary arts, and has this advice for applicants at next week’s Job Fair: “Know what you want. Keep your goal. Set expectations you can meet. Be you.”
An understudy for the Student Government Association, meaning he is in line for an officer’s position, Dahlem suggested male job-seekers wear suits or slacks with button-up shirts and ties.
“You don’t want to walk up in a t-shirt,” he said.
For women, Brown advised “dress professionally and appropriately. . .a business suit, or slacks and a shirt, or a skirt, blouse and jacket.”
Don’t forget to bring extra copies of your resume, the students said.
That document should be up-to-date with information about the applicant’s training and skills. For young people who haven’t had much job experience, extracurricular activities like organizations and community service can be listed.
“It shows you know how to work with others,” Dahlem said.
The Northwest Mississippi Area Job Fair is part of the Governor’s Job Fair Network of Mississippi. Hours are 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Job seekers are advised to make childcare arrangements before the Job Fair.
For additional information or help with your resume, call the WIN Job Center at 563-7318.
