Mavs explore career opportunities with fashion
For the Career Development Center, its main goal is to assist MSU students get the career information they need to help them secure the job they want after graduation.
And sometimes, that help and guidance comes in the form of a fashion show.
The CDC hosted its Work Wear Fashion Show in the Ostrander Auditorium Thursday, with the help and collaboration of the Maverick Involvement Team, Multicultural Center, History and Gender Studies, Kearney International Center, LGBT Center and TRIO Student Support Services.
With the CDC’s inaugural fashion show taking place last year, Assistant CDC Director Alexis Persons explains several of the show’s elements remain the same for this year.
“It’s not a traditional fashion show, per se, where people are walking across the stage the whole time. There’s different activities that the audience can engage in. We really cover all different parts of the job search process, starting with an elevator pitch, how you introduce yourself, moving into what you can put on your resume, how you can build your resume, going into STAR stories, and how to answer interview questions, Persons said.
“A little bit about the workplace; what to expect in regards to potentially microaggressions or other different things students might experience in the workplace, all the way through actually getting that job and accepting it.”
Before the fashion show, the CDC held resume reviews where student had the opportunity to network with actual employers, with Persons explaining how a resume plays a crucial part in workplace attire “because you don’t even have the opportunity to wear your workwear if you don’t get an interview so the purpose of a resume is to get you an interview.”
“We have employers that are coming and that are going to give reviews on what they’re seeing in the field, what they like to see as a recruiter so students are getting firsthand knowledge from those recruiters to hopefully get a really good idea of how to get a good resume that will get you that interview so now you know what to wear once you get to that interview.” Persons said.
With the interactive event presenting fashion and practical tips that will help MSU students stand out in a competitive job market, Persons shares that its purpose is to introduce professionalism to students while also helping them be authentically themselves, both in workwear attire and in a workplace environment.
“The definition of professional dress is changing. In the past, you wore a suit, or, if you’re a female, you wore a skirt. It’s more muted and we’ve seen that changing. Employers are recognizing that people don’t just want to go to work. They want to be able to be themselves at work and be comfortable there too. So employers are becoming more open and we see dress codes changing,” Persons said.
“The reason why it’s important to look good and feel good when you’re wearing your work wear is because we know from research that students that are more comfortable and confident in what they’re wearing are more likely to get employed. They’re more likely to get an interview. They’re more likely to get a job offer after that interview. That’s one of the reasons why we’re really taking some time to help students get comfortable with this idea of what to wear in the workplace.”
Since the event was a fashion show, students and faculty walked on stage in their workwear attire to win prizes, from T-shirts to gift cards. Senior Aubrey Kaesmayer participated in the closing fashion walk and shared her favorite parts of the event.
“I liked the mock interviews they had on stage. The mock interviews on stage are really cool, and the speakers, it was nice to hear from their point of view. The prizes are really cool. It’s good that we all got and were able to win,” Kaesmeyer said.
Persons notes how some college students don’t start thinking about their future until later on, saying how “it is never too early to start working on your career development”.
“It’s a myth that people are like ‘Oh, I don’t need to work on my career development until my last year of college’. Well, if you wait until your last year, you’re wasting three years or potentially more, that you could be building your resume, you could be getting professional experiences,” Persons said. “You could be involved in RSOs, you could join the band, you could join student government. All these different things that you could be doing now, can be doing early in your career, will give you skills to fill up that resume, to get you that interview.”
As the new academic year progresses, Persons herself and the CDC highly encourage students to start looking into potential career paths.
“Part of the reason why we like to do the workwear fashion show is because we want to get students thinking about their career and their career development as early as possible in their college experience, because that gives them the most opportunity to become a really qualified and competitive candidate,” Persons said. “We know from research that about 85% of students come to college for the sole purpose of getting a job and so why wait in your college career to work on it when that’s the driving factor for being here.”
For anyone interested in seeking career information and job opportunities, the Career Development Center is located in Wigley Administration 209.
Photo Caption: The CDC hosted its Work Wear Fashion Show in the Ostrander Auditorium Thursday, with the help and collaboration of various organizations on campus. (Matt Miller/The Reporter)
Write to Anahi Zuniga at anahi.zuniga@mnsu.edu