Jazmin Soto, who is working on her BA in business marketing, came to the Nov. 2 workshop to get more information on car rental company, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, “to learn more about the business” and to see if she could get a job.

During the workshop, she asked about her resume and what sort of experience to put on it — being that she has worked for her family business, but was never officially documented.

She also wanted to find out if she could improve her resume in any other way.

Susie Arellano-Reed, a talent acquisition manager for Enterprise Rent-A-Car who gave the presentation at the workshop, answered Soto’s question — saying that any and all experience should be listed on a resume.

The talent acquisition manager continued, saying that she also considers leadership roles in student organizations and being in college sports “work experience.”

“I think it’s extremely important that you dress for the part you want, not the part you are,” quoth Arellano-Reed.

She is sure to “always encourage” students to dress conservatively; the reason being that they haven’t “nailed” the position yet.

“I’d prefer,” she explained, “For them to look really professional, get the job they want, learn the company culture before dressing a little bit more casually.”

The presenter also made a point to advise the students in attendance — six in total — to “ask a lot of questions.”

She thinks it’s remarkably paramount for students to be inquisitive and “not be afraid to ask questions, because the more they ask, the more knowledge they will gain about that organization they want to work for.”

This will help them make an educated decision as to whether or not they want a given position.

She also said that it is important for a candidate to keep open lines of communication with the hiring manager, saying, “You don’t want to present anything that is false — [for example,] stating that you have full availability when in fact you don’t.”

Arellano-Reed stated that if one communicates with a hiring manager, letting them know ones school schedule, they can tell one immediately if they are able to work around it.

“For the most part,” Arellano-Reed added, “They will. If it’s a part-time position, if you’re a student — they will be understanding to that.”

Arellano-Reed was invited onto campus because of her connections with Career Counselor Clara Ross-Jones.

According to Ross-Jones, they met about a year an a half ago — at a career event and they “really connected.”

“I was telling her,” Ross-Jones explained, “How dynamic our students are; and I would love for Enterprise to come and present the various opportunities they had available — from automotive, to customer service, to management training program.”

The following semester, Arellano-Reed was able to come and have a table and hold an info-session; this is the third semester she has visited.

The career counselor explained that the purpose of having the talent acquisition manager come was to give students the chance to build skills with the various positions that Enterprise has available.

“We just wanted students to come, listen and explore everything […] broadening their perspective,” asserted Ross-Jones, continuing, “If you noticed, most of the students [in attendance] were new students — so if you want to begin to build your resume, this is available for you.”

Ross-Jones explained that the Career Center tries to coordinate workshops such as these every month — and puts on workshops revolving around resume building and choosing a major more often.