Minorities searching for career opportunities will soon have a chance to market their skills.

The Minority Career Fair, sponsored annually by Career Services & Placement, will take place Jan. 25 in the Kellogg Center’s Big Ten Rooms.

Although the event is open to all students, Jason McGhee, the fair’s programming supervisor, said recruiters will come to campus ready to interview a minority target audience.

“Sometimes regular career fairs are so big and so huge, that minorities may not get much of an experience with the recruiters,” the studio art junior said.

Motorola, 3M and Ford Motor Co. are just a few of the companies to be represented at next week’s fair.

Tina Goschka, events coordinator for Career Services & Placement, said students who recently graduated or will graduate in May can benefit from meeting company representatives at the fair.

“It’s an opportunity to speak with 135-plus companies at the same time so they can see you as a person, not a résumé,” she said.

But while upperclassmen may be focused on landing full-time jobs, co-ops and internships, freshmen and sophomores can also benefit from attending the fair by establishing connections with companies, said Lenroy Jones, associate director for Career Services and Placement.

Jones also gave a few tips for students preparing to meet employers.

“Students need to make sure their résumés are polished, and that they have about three to five selling points about themselves,” he said. “They’ll only have from one to five minutes to interact with the employers, so you should have a statement that can tell about you in summary.”

In addition, Jones said students should dress professionally, smile, do research on companies of interest and have a firm handshake to offer recruiters.

Any student who hopes to have a job waiting for them after graduation should make a point of attending job fairs such as this one, he said.

“This is your opportunity to engage employers and be engaged by employers,” Jones said. “And our hope is that the experience for each student that walks into the fair will have an opportunity to get into their career of choice.”