Diversity Fair and Career Boot Camp Part of City of Birmingham's Empowerment Week

The City of Birmingham will present a Diversity Fair on Saturday, September 14, in and around the Birmingham Jefferson Convention Complex as part of Empowerment Week. The free event will include the Second Annual International Street Fair, a health fair, cooking demonstrations, and more. Inside the BJCC’s South Exhibition Hall will be the Career Boot Camp, which will feature free resume critiques, mock job interviews, a Dress for Success fashion show by Belk, and door prizes. Birmingham Public Library representatives will demonstrate how to use online library resources to secure information on careers, jobs, and tuition.

“We’ll be showing people how to find answers to their job search questions via our website, www.bplonline.org, books, and computer classes,’’ said Jim Murray, head of the Business, Science and Technology Department at Central. “Most employers today require you have an email address to even apply for a job. The library can help you set up an email account and put you on the path to a new career.’’

Presented by the Birmingham Society for Human Resource Management, the Career Boot Camp will take place from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Doors open at 9:45 a.m. The event is free.

The camp is designed to equip job seekers with the tools they'll need to make themselves more marketable in the workplace. It will also give potential employers a leg up in finding qualified applicants, said Tamika Holmes, vice president of community relations and workforce development for BSHRM.

This is not a job fair, but a platform for various businesses such as the Hilton, the Jefferson County Public Defenders' Office, the Alabama Career Center, the Jefferson County Workforce, and others to talk about potential career opportunities.

Professionals will offer tips on networking, transitioning from high school or college to the real world, how to reenter the workforce after retirement, and more. The Society for Human Resource Management chapter at UAB will take free professional head shots. Tonya Jones of Tonya Jones SalonSpa and BSHRM members will deliver inspirational messages.

The South Exhibition Hall is located on Ninth Avenue North, between Richard Arrington Jr. Boulevard and 19th Street North. For more info on Empowerment Week, part of the city’s ongoing commemoration of the civil rights movement, visit www.50yearsforward.com/empowerment-week/. For more info on BSHRM, visit www.bshrm.org.