It was the semiannual Mock Job Fair, a collaboration of four human resources courses with significant logistical coordination and support from the UOG Society of Human Resource Management Student Chapter.

The simulated job fair, in its fifth year, is completely organized, run, and attended by students — each one’s role determined by the class he or she is currently taking.

Students in “Staffing and Employee Development” (BA-444), an upper-division course for Bachelor of Business Administration majors with a human resources concentration, created fictitious companies with working websites, developed job announcements and application forms, and then set up a professional and attractive space at the job fair where they reviewed cover letters and applications and scheduled and interviewed applicants.

“We’re learning to be better interviewers and how to handle different types of personalities,” said student Carly Champaco-Muñoz, who was interviewing applicants for her team’s interior design business, Bonita Concepts. “We’re preparing for once we get into the real world and into the HR field so we already have that feel of what it takes to be on this side of the table."

Her classmate and colleague in Bonita Concepts, Christian San Nicolas, said the experience was also important for developing the communication skills that are essential in the human resources profession.

“How well are the interviewees making eye contact, what’s their tone of voice… and in return, we have to be professional and give them our undivided attention,” he said.

Applying for the job openings were students from three sections of the “Human Resource Management” (BA-241) course. They had to prepare a resume and cover letter, practice being interviewed, and then come to the job fair and sit for both a scheduled and a walk-in interview.

Students from another course, “Managing the Employee and Work Environment” (BA-345), were tasked with critiquing the company websites, job advertisements, and interview procedure, and students from the “Compensation, Benefits, and Performance Evaluations” (BA-443) class designed the wage and salary structures for each job opening as well as the benefits packages.

Throughout the course of their degree, students studying human resources participate in the Mock Job Fair multiple times in different roles.

“For this class, we’re on this side of the table, but for other classes we’ve had to be the ones getting interviewed,” San Nicolas said. “So we’re experiencing all sides.”

According to Professor Richard S. Colfax, the event involves considerable collaboration by many groups, all being led by the upper-division “Staffing and Employee Development” class with the SHRM Student Chapter as the backbone for logistics and manpower for operations.

“This Mock Job Fair serves every semester as a capstone activity for the human resource management disciplines here at SBPA,” Colfax said. “This project was a huge success due to the collaboration of many, many students and the guidance of Dr. Joann Diego and her BA-444 project team that always make this a valuable and enjoyable learning project.”

 The team’s fictitious company websites can be viewed here:

• Bonita Concepts
• Måhlos
• Mungge Café