Career Days is just one of the many ways Iowa State’s Career Services gives students a helping hand in directing their futures.

Beverly Madden, director of Career Services, said Career Days will soon be kicking off this fall. She said both the Engineering Career Day and Business/LAS Career Day are so large, they had to be moved to Hilton Coliseum.

Engineering Career Day will be held Sept. 22; the Business/LAS Career Day will take place on Sept. 23; Family and Consumer Sciences Career Day will be held Sept. 30; Graduate and Professional School Day is scheduled for Oct. 21; and Agriculture Career Day will be Nov. 10.

Annie Miller, career development coordinator for Business/LAS Career Services, said one of the best features of the Business/LAS Career Day this year is that 90 companies, which are participating in interview day, will be around the next day to conduct interviews.

“We changed the time from 1 p.m. to 8 p.m. to hopefully accommodate more students,” Miller said. “Hopefully, we will miss some classes, and CyRide will be picking up people on a free shuttle all day.”

Madden said there will be over 200 employers present at the Engineering and Business/LAS Career Days. She said Career Days have always been a feature at ISU.

“We encourage first-year students all the way through graduate students to come to these Career Days,” Madden said.

Miller agreed that students should start thinking about jobs early in their college careers.

“In general, it’s never too early for a student to come in,” Miller said. She said some students think Career Services is only for seniors, but the service also is for students who are still deciding what they want to do and who need help with their resum‚s.

Madden said she tells first-year students to introduce themselves to prospective employers and to ask questions.

“This enables first-year students to explore and to make sure they’re in the right academic nich‚,” Madden said.

She said second-year students should work on tailoring their majors by exploring electives, minors and double majors. She said students should ask for specifics as to what employers look for when hiring.

“Juniors ought to inquire about internships, because they are really the stepping stones to jobs,” Madden said. “Seniors should be ready for a full-fledged job search.”

Madden said she feels students might as well go after the job of their dreams when looking for an internship, because companies often offer interns full-time jobs after they complete their internships.

Madden also compared an internship to an extended interview.

“It’s really the best job search technique,” she said. “We have students who are doing two or three internships to try out the culture of different internships. It really is critically important.”

Madden also emphasized the importance of a resum‚, which she compared to a calling card.

“Just as much as we encourage you to do a four-year academic plan, we encourage you to do a resum‚ on day one,” Madden said. She suggested students use copies of outstanding resum‚s in their areas to plan their academic programs.

The procedural decisions are up to the individual colleges, but all the Career Services offices offer basically the same information, Madden said.

Business and LAS students are supposed to go over a videotape on reserve in the library that provides information on the services the office offers and questions students should ask, she said.

“In the College of Family and Consumer Sciences, each student takes a required course in career development,” Madden said. She said career information is incorporated into the course.

Madden said all the colleges handle Career Services a little differently.

“The College of Engineering registers all incoming students with Career Services and e-mails the students the information,” Madden said. “How we contact students may differ [among the colleges], but the service is the same.”

Madden recommended that students check the Career Services Web site on the ISU home page for more information about Career Days and the service in general.