Klein Career Fair

Today, I attended the Prepare the Fair networking event run by Klein held in the Student Center. This event was held a week before the Klein Career Fair in order to help students feel more ready to take it on. They had a panel of professionals in Media and Communications, some of which were Temple Alumni. Each person talked about their experiences in their fields, such as journalism, PR, and radio, and shared with us how they got to where they were in their career. After each panel member introduced themselves and their professions, the audience was allowed to ask questions.

Following the panel discussion, a mini professional clothing fashion show took place. Upon arrival, we were all given an infographic saying what not to wear to an interview and what the difference was between business casual versus business professional. They also pointed out that they had brought a rack of business clothing that was all free for anyone to take. I ended up taking a matching blazer and skirt because I worked in an office alone so I never needed to wear professional clothing to work. I have an internship over the summer for my study abroad program with Klein GO in London, so I was excited to obtain professional clothing I can wear during my time there!📷

To conclude the event, everyone practiced their elevator pitches with members of the panel and other professionals that work at Klein. The line was extremely long, so I took this time to get a professional headshot for my LinkedIn profile. I absolutely love how the pictures turned out and I loved even more that it was so quick and completely free of charge!

Once I finished getting my headshot I waited in line to do my elevator pitch. I took advantage of this time to make a new friend in line while waiting! Once it was my turn to practice my elevator pitch, I got to speak to Loraine Ballard Morril, Director of News and Community Affairs at iHeartRadio. I was very excited when I saw that I would get to speak with her and I was hoping that she would be the one I got to talk to. I really wanted to meet her because I loved hearing how she got to where she is as a woman of colour. It also turned out that she had worked with the nonprofit I work part-time for and is a passionate female activist. She gave me lots of good advice after I did my first elevator pitch and was extremely kind. I’m always extremely nervous while practicing elevator pitches, but it helps so much and only gets easier every time.

I had a really great time at this event and I wish that I could have attended the real career fair, but it helped me significantly to grow professionally. I am so grateful to be in a school where events like this are held so that I may go out of my comfort zone and put myself out there in order to improve my professionalism. I can’t wait to do this again next year and I look forward to making new connections at events like these from Klein!