By Morgan Bryce
Staff Reporter
Southern Union State Community College will be hosting a soft skills seminar and job fair early next month for students and Opelika residents to enhance their interviewing skills and connect them to possible employment opportunities.
The April 4 skills seminar will feature guest speakers offering their expert insight and advice through a talk-show-like format on the basics of a successful interview. Skills like a firm handshake, strong eye contact, solid resume, attention-grabbing introductions and more will be taught through the seminar.
The job fair is April 11, and more than 40 vendors representing local municipalities, businesses and organizations will be present.
“Ultimately, we want them to leave the job fair with a job. We want people to come away from this seminar more knowledgeable … I think we’re going to have a polished employee or prospective employee standing there (at the job fair) and they’re (the employers) going to have a hard time choosing,” Vertrina Grubbs, Southern Union’s Assistant to the Dean of Students, said.
Cydney Matthews, Southern Union’s Coordinator of Student Success and Retention, said the fair, which drew more than 400 participants last year, is an event that benefits the entire county.
“One reason that we do this is that we are a community college, and we want to give back to the community here, as well as our students. The Lee County area has been very good to Southern Union, and great partners to one another … and we’d like to help our business partners in the area to fill the needs they have, and we feel like our students and local residents are a great resource for that,” Matthews said.
Both the seminar and job fair will take place in the Southern Room in the Business and Technology Center on Southern Union’s campus. For more information, contact Cydney Matthews by phone at (334) 745-6437, ext. 5488, or by email at cmatthews@suscc.edu.