The People to People Career Fair began just three years ago and specializes in the fields of social services, education, health and wellness, government and hospitality. To prepare for this, students are pulling out their professional attire, polishing their resumes and preparing themselves for the upcoming career fairs, but some students and staff at Iowa State are doing much more than that to prepare.

Taren Crow has been a director of LAS Career Services for four years and is the only remaining staff member that’s been with People to People since its beginning.

Crow serves as the LAS adviser for the career fair’s committee and has been preparing for the upcoming fair since March. Since then, Crow has hired committee members, set up and approved employers’ registration, mapped out the floor plan of the fair and coordinated catering for the day of the fair.

More than 100 employers are registered to attend People to People this fall. When the fair was first held, Crow recalls hoping for 40 employers to register. In only three years, they have more than doubled their initial goal.

In addition to Crow, the committee includes an adviser from the College of Human Sciences, two graduate students that serve as co-chairs, an ambassador coordinator, a promotional coordinator and about 20 ambassadors. The committee has held weekly meetings since the school year began.

The committee has an extremely high amount of work to accomplish in just a few weeks, said Emily Sherman, senior in elementary education, who has been People to People’s ambassador coordinator since last spring.

Sherman hires, trains and supervises the career fair ambassadors who she refers to as “the faces of People to People.”

The ambassadors help spread the word about People to People by promoting it in different classrooms and on social media. On the day of the fair, they’re responsible for assisting the students and employers.

Both Sherman and Crow said they find working for People to People to be incredibly fulfilling.

“It’s nice to be able to see such a big project from start to finish,” Sherman said.

This is Sherman’s second semester serving as the ambassador coordinator. She says that she enjoys being able to come back and build upon her previous semester’s work.

Crow loves hearing from students who had a positive experience at the fair. Last spring, a student visited her after the fair and told her that he had landed seven interviews.

One challenge they have faced is not having many students apply to be a part of the committee, Sherman said.

Sherman and Crow look for potential committee members with creativity, reliability, dependability, enthusiasm and strong customer service abilities. To get involved, look for their future postings on CyHire and then submit an application.

The fair will be held in the Scheman Building, September 30th from 1-5 p.m. It’s co-hosted by the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and the College of Human Sciences, although any majors are welcome to attend.