Career Fair Assignment

1. I went to the fair on Wednesday, Sept. 16
Ameristar Casino
Capital Financial Strategies Group

2. Ameristar:
Q What kind of extra activities do you look for in your applicants?
A Customer service is one of the major aspects of our industry so we want someone who can be social. Any type of team organization, whether it's a sports team, environmental club, anything that you can say you participated group work.
Q What type of GPA do you look for in your applicants?
A Anything above a 3.0 will get you noticed, but what we really look for are interpersonal skills. So basically your grades get you in the door, but your interview has to set you apart from the rest of the group.

Capital Financial Strategies Group
Q Is there any specific concentration you are looking for with your applicants?
A We tend to look at the business and economic majors for our positions. As far as concentrations go we tend to look for management, accounting or finance. Our applicants all start out in the same pool and then they are filtered into one of two groups, finances or management. Your concentration doesn't necessarily indicate which group you will go in, it just comes down to which area the company feels you would do the most good in.
Q When do you start doing internships?
A Most of our internships are directed at juniors and seniors.

3.The hardest part of the career fair would have to be, the fact this was a new experience for me. I had never been to a career fair before, so I had no idea what to expect. I was a little flustered at the beginning, but as I talked to more companies I became more comfortable with the new atmosphere.

4. The next time I go to the career fair I will try and ask questions more personal to me. Instead of just asking, "what kind of extra activities do you look for in your applicants?" I will ask, "I am a member of the Sigma Phi Epsilion fraternity, do you look at fraternities as an extra-curricular?" When talking about GPA I will say I have X.XX GPA how do I stack up against most applicants?"

5. From the companies I asked questions to, I learned that grades are very important, but not always the most important thing. Considering the fields I want to go into, I will need to participate in activities that show companies I can be personal to their customers. When going into an interview I will need to be prepared. This is because it seems companies base the majority of their decision on how you present yourself. Overall I thought the career fair was a great experience, it gave me an idea of what I need to do over the course of my college career to be competitive in the job market.