Career fair sharpens student resumes

Tony Parra: PNT Staff Writer

Some college students fear there won’t be a job for them when they graduate. A career fair held in Portales Thursday should help ease that fear.

Ty Walker, director of Counseling and Career Services for Eastern New Mexico University, said there were more than 40 employers in the Campus Union Ballroom looking for future employees. The New Mexico Department of Corrections, Comcast, Edward Jones, Hyatt Regency, Wells Fargo Financial and Los Alamos National Lab were some of those businesses looking for employees.

Andrea Hunton, an ENMU senior whose major is in Business Administration and her minor is in Marketing, was in search for jobs in the eastern New Mexico area. Hunton will be graduating in December.

“I was looking for local opportunities, but also opportunities that can allow me to go farther,” Hunton said. Hunton handles the business aspect of AV Productions while her husband, Paul, handles the filming portion of it. “Like Wells Fargo Financial. Because it is a national company, I can get a job in the area and if we decide to move I can get a job elsewhere through the company.”

Sarah Blott, an ENMU senior majoring in journalism, was focusing her search on graduate schools. Blott’s husband is stationed at Cannon Air Force Base and said they will have to probably go overseas to Italy. Blott said she wants to pursue her education through online programs.

“I do want to be a writer and eventually an editor in my career,” Blott said. Blott said her fear was finding the perfect job. “Finding a job in something I want to do in a paper I like is my biggest fear.”

Blott visited with representatives from Texas Tech and West Texas A&M Universities about their graduate schools.

Walker said the career fair allows for business representatives to visit face-to-face with students with qualified backgrounds. He said the career fair is not only for seniors and juniors, but for freshman.

“These businesses look for full-time employees and internships,” Walker said. “For freshman, it’s an exploration. Once they look, they have a better idea of what employers are looking for when they come back as juniors and seniors.”

Looking ahead is exactly what Daniel Webster, an ENMU junior, did on Thursday. Webster, an agriculture major, said he anticipates graduating in May of 2007.

“I came here and talked to NRCS (Natural Resources Conservation Service),” Webster said. “I’m interested in getting a summer internship. I wanted to find out what types of classes I need to take.”

Scotty Savage, a soil conservationist for the Roosevelt Soil and Water Conservation District, visited with those who are interested in agriculture jobs.

“We had quiet a few stop by,” Savage said. “NRCS works with private land owners and we try to inform them about the latest technology in conservation. We work with private land owners and how to improve prairie chicken habitat. We try to persuade them to defer from grazing in certain areas which are prime prairie chicken habitat areas.”

Savage said there are eight people working in the NRCS branch of the United States Department of Agriculture in Portales.