Grambling, La. – March 23, 2022 – For the first time in two years, Grambling State University’s Business office of Occupation Providers held an in-particular person Lonnie B. Smith Vocation Honest on Tuesday at the Fredrick C. Hobdy Assembly Middle. After holding the fairs practically the previous two yrs due to the fact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the 53rd annual model introduced pupils facial area to deal with with potential companies.
Fifty GSU students had been in a position to show up at the truthful dressed for achievement thanks to a JC Penney Match-Up event held on March 20 that was coordinated by GSU Director of Career Solutions Kellye Blackburn with the enable of David Wilson from Accenture Business enterprise Companies.
“Thank you David Wilson and the Accenture crew for bringing my dream to give Grambling students with new specialist clothes to daily life,” Blackburn said. “I approached Mr. Wilson with my JCPenny Go well with Up Sponsorship plan for the reason that of Accenture’s motivation to building an influence in the neighborhood via philanthropic initiatives.”
Every of the 50 learners who attended the JCPenny Accommodate up occasion on March 20, been given a $100 JCPenney Reward card to buy expert clothes. The remaining 25 gift playing cards will be given to college students to obtain small business attire at the Tumble 2022 Accommodate-Up event.
“I seem forward to a ongoing partnership with Accenture as Grambling strives to turn into Accenture’s HBCU of option when looking for to recruit top expertise,” Blackburn explained.
The career fair is named in honor of the late Smith, a Security and Engineering professor in GSU’s Division of Industrial Arts who for 34 several years also served as the university’s Director of Placement. Smith passed away in 2005.
Blackburn reported she was delighted to ultimately be ready to have GSU college students meet up with at the time yet again encounter-to-face with future employers.
“I’m seriously joyful to be open and back dwell on campus,” Blackburn explained of Tuesday’s function. “We’ve got 63-additionally employers, 20 industries represented including federal companies, top Fortune 100 businesses, and additional than 20 faculty districts. We had extra than 150 pupils registered just before the celebration.
“The past three fairs have been virtual over the earlier year and a fifty percent and these in fact experienced many extra businesses participating. We experienced 150 companies for past spring’s profession honest and 200-plus participated in the virtual fair very last fall, so we get a lot more range pretty much for all those employers who may well not be equipped to travel to rural Louisiana for a honest. We experienced 120 employers participate in a digital honest in February, so I’m kind of a lover of the two digital and in-person.”
Blackburn reported that it’s crucial that learners get an early start on the profession fairs as opposed to waiting until their senior years to get started attending.
“Career advancement is genuinely crucial for pupils of all classifications to arrive out to a profession reasonable just to master about the work market place and learn about industries and what kinds of prospects are obtainable so that they can construct their skills to match what companies are looking for.”
Junior psychology major and GSU tennis crew member Georgina Kaindoah was 1 of the college students taking early benefit of Tuesday’s career honest.
“It’s been difficult but you just type of discover the harmony between faculty and tennis,” Kaindoah explained. “It’s about time management and organizing. And athletics allows with that since you need that to perform a activity like tennis as a great deal as you do to succeed academically. The two are about willpower. And you want to work difficult and start out early in what ever you do, be it academics or athletics. Which is why I wanted to come right now and start out creating contacts that will enable me in the future, even although I’m nevertheless a junior.”
GSU Vice President for Development, Analysis and Economic Development Melanie Jones was on hand for Tuesday’s party.
“Today’s vocation honest is an unbelievable chance to hook up our learners with internships and gratifying professions aligned with their educational significant and other personal or skilled priorities,” Jones said. “ It is enjoyable to host this party in human being, affording all participants — companies and pupils — the likelihood to engage in significant dialogue, knowledge just about every other’s genuine characteristics, and link in techniques to enable greater establish alignment — anything that just are not able to be realized in the similar way in a virtual environment. Moreover, it is often a privilege to host our choosing associates on-campus, where by they get a firsthand encounter of all the excellent issues about GSU.”
Junior senior Deja Southall, a business administration major from Chicago, and Skyler Raines, a junior biology significant also from Chicago, attended the celebration alongside one another late on Tuesday afternoon.
“We went to a couple concerning biology, my significant. It was a great occasion. There were a ton of universities there wanting for graduate pupils, and which is some thing to think about. I’m glad I came,” Raines reported.


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