For students interesting in pursuing careers off the beaten path, Penn State Career Services and student organization Innoblue have teamed up to bring you the Small Business and Startup Fair.

The fair will make its way to the Nittany Lion Inn on Tuesday, March 26 from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. It’s is aimed toward students interested in full-time jobs, internships, or research opportunities within growing companies.

Pre-registration is not required for the students. When you get there, all you need to do is check in with your student ID, and you’ll get further instruction about the event. You can find additional information about the fair here.

The event is co-sponsored by Innoblue, a club on campus focused on entrepreneurship and creativity in a business setting. The club itself wears many hats, from acting as a co-working space to putting together numerous educational and career opportunities for students. You may recognize the club from its involvement in HackPSU and Startup Week on campus, or its “de: Coded” workshops.

“We’re a platform for entrepreneurs,” Innoblue president Benjamin Craddock said. “Our mission is to share the entrepreneurial mindset and to always be learning. We provide educational initiatives and opportunities for students to get more involved in entrepreneurship.”

Innoblue heard about Career Services’ plans for the upcoming fair and reached out, offering to leverage some of its connections with startups to help in any way possible. Career Services happily obliged and the folks within Innoblue got to work.

“We’ve done a lot of the legwork with sending out details to student groups, sending out details to things like Stall Stories, and also reaching out to companies to attend,” Hayden Long, a freshman member of Innoblue, said. “We’ve had a lot of companies hear about the event within entrepreneurship circles, both in State College and outside of it.”

Both Craddock and Long believe this particular fair offers students a very real opportunity for students to obtain an internship or a full-time job, especially compared to the massive — and often overwhelming — career fairs in the Bryce Jordan Center.

By working at a startup or smaller company, new hires can make an immense impact given the relatively small staff. These opportunities can be especially helpful to underclassmen, who may have a tough time landing internships at a well-established companies that have their sights set primarily on juniors.

They also both attest to the fact that employment at these smaller or newer companies offers the chance for a dynamic and fast-paced role in a company that is continuously evolving. Job roles may change on a daily basis, ranging from marketing to event planning to managing a tech team. Employees not only have the chance to learn new skills in various areas, but they can do so in a company that is at the frontier of technology, chemistry, or even finance.

“You’re going to have so many opportunities to try new things that you’ll never be pigeon-holed into any single role,” Long said.

If this style of work interests you, check out the career fair on March 26. There will also be an informative panel on Monday, March 25 from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Happy Valley LaunchBox downtown.