Courtney Creech

Career fair attendance empowering for math major and career recruiter hopeful

Courtney Creech graduated in May 2014 with a Bachelor of Science in mathematics with a computational emphasis. With the help of Career Services, she landed two job offers after the fall 2013 career fair. Now she hopes to return to the U of I Career Fairs as a recruiter and find more Vandals.

"Career Services has helped me a lot. I have used some of the flyers they have, like the "50 Most Common Interview Questions," the cover letter template and the resume template. I also met with one of the Career Center career advisors to improve my resume. She told me to put my GPA on my resume, and you cannot believe how helpful that was.

I attended a career fair prep workshop and learned what to expect and how to prepare to talk to employers. The workshop was definitely the most helpful, because it prepared me for the career fair more than I would have on my own. For example, I wouldn’t have led with my name and a 30-second pitch about why I’m important, if I hadn’t attended the workshop.

It was my first time attending a career fair, and I ended up having two interviews the week of the fair and two job offers by December. I met with a Career Services career advisor again and had her help me weigh the pros and cons of each offer.

I recommend students take their resumes in to be reviewed by someone at Career Services. They will tell you what will help you and what might hurt you. Students should take their advice, but shouldn't be afraid to stick with a couple things that are their own."

— Courtney Creech '14