Time to unleash those awkward social skills upon the world!

2/6/2013 8:49:45 AM

career fair?

2/6/2013 8:54:34 AM

Yeah

2/6/2013 8:55:33 AM

heh

pro-tip: http://students.engr.ncsu.edu/careerfair/participating-companies

now you don't actually have to go in person and be told to submit a resume online

2/6/2013 8:56:11 AM

Haha, I'm well aware of the 'oh you should apply online' thing. I'm going anyways though to mingle and get free swag.

2/6/2013 8:57:28 AM

i mean i can loan you $3 if you want a half dozen pens

2/6/2013 8:58:44 AM

Free swag is the best thing about career fairs! I still use a mini stapler that I got from Northrop Grumman in 2006. And admittedly, every now and then it isn't just the "Submit resume online" thing... once I did get an on-site interview the day after the career fair.

2/6/2013 8:59:18 AM

^^So can I have that 3 dollars?

^ I totally need that free stapler

2/6/2013 9:01:58 AM

I know for a fact we utilize the physical resumes we get. You just have to ALSO apply online.

I usually work the booth for my company at least once a year but I was busy here in the office today and the Feb one as well. Oh well. I actually enjoy getting back to NC and to our campus.

[Edited on February 6, 2013 at 9:03 AM. Reason : ]

2/6/2013 9:02:38 AM

Fail on my part. Just got a job and I'd feel bad collecting free swag knowing I won't be looking for another position until I graduate.

2/6/2013 9:08:15 AM

I've been begging the academic services department here to go to NCSU career fairs for the past five years to no avail. One day. One day.

2/6/2013 9:21:55 AM

They should hand out irons and ironing boards, most of these motherfuckers didnt even bother to get the wrinkles out of their horribly fitting "dress" clothes or suits. I work at the McKimmon Center and i have never seen so many poorly dressed awkward people in my life.

2/6/2013 12:19:52 PM

i would be the dude that just showed up wearing normal shit

2/6/2013 12:28:40 PM

Normal shit would be 10X better than the way some of these people are dressed. Suits that dont fit, sport coats that look like they are from the thrift shop, no tie at all, etc.

I was talking with a coworker and we surmised that you would just be better off dressing up in a clown outfit and throwing your resumes at each booth. That way they will at least remember talking to you.

2/6/2013 12:36:04 PM

think about the demographic though. 19-21 year olds out on their own for the first time who have very little experience with the professional world and interacting with potential big boy employers.

2/6/2013 12:39:01 PM

haha I remember my first career fair at McKimmon in 2004, rocking my oversized suit jacket I got at Goodwill for 2.75 and unironed dress shirt just to get told to "apply online" and get a free pen.

oh wait apparently that still happens 9 years later.

2/6/2013 1:21:01 PM

^I was in the same boat. Same year actually, I was just looking for a co-op. I was wearing a double breasted suit jacket that was two sizes too big (It was actually a nice jacket, it just was way big on me) but I at least wore a tie and ironed my shirt. I still have that suit just in case I get fat. Funny story, I applied online to my current job (without being told to at a career fair) and it actually worked so I guess not all online job applications go to a black hole.

2/6/2013 1:52:54 PM

it must be nice to be able to wear a tie

2/6/2013 1:58:25 PM

I got 4 interviews and a few 'when should we call you?"

2/6/2013 2:02:42 PM

I got some headphones from a company one time.

2/6/2013 8:41:42 PM

no career fair for me this time, I got my job nigra

man, that's a good feeling

2/7/2013 12:49:01 AM

Does the Cisco booth still have ridiculous lines of ECE and CS majors? One of the few things that stuck out back in 07ish was when they were yelling for any engineering other than the 50+ Indian's in line to come to the front.

2/7/2013 12:56:40 AM

Yeah Cisco was pretty big, nVidia was surprisingly big, I could find one of the booths I was looking for at first because the nVidia line was covering it

2/7/2013 8:05:57 AM

Isn't Cisco, as a company on the whole, kinda on the downswing?

2/7/2013 8:16:28 AM

I got a flash drive from Nucor and a tshirt from Mustang engineering back in the day

2/7/2013 8:30:16 AM

Pro tip #1 - don't walk up to me, shake my hand and say "sooo uhhhh I graduate in May and I'm not sure what I want to do, what kind of openings do you guys have?" Do some research, walk up to the recruiter and present yourself to them with a purpose, damn it. Even if you don't really want to make widgets, if you're going to talk to Widgets Inc., make them believe you want to be the best damn widget maker they could hire from NC State.

Pro tip #2 - pop a tic tac every now and again before you go speaking face to face with a potential employer, people. good gosh, the breath yesterday was awful

I know most of this board is like 30 w/kids, but man yesterday was frustrating at times.

2/7/2013 8:36:27 AM

These are the things CHASS majors learn on day one.

Funny how that works.

2/7/2013 8:40:51 AM

^ Good tips right there.

Tip for recruiters, just because a student has a name tag

Blackjesus
Computer Science

Does not mean its ok to me while I'm on my quest to talk to companies I care about.

[Edited on February 7, 2013 at 8:52 AM. Reason : ]

2/7/2013 8:42:04 AM

Ive always wanted to get into widget development. Hook me up

2/7/2013 8:44:09 AM

Quote :

"tshirt from Mustang engineering"

I got one too back in the day...I think bmel threw it away

2/7/2013 8:51:35 AM

I always knew she was a jerk

2/7/2013 8:58:54 AM

Quote :

"Tip for recruiters, just because a student has a name tag Blackjesus Computer Science Does not mean its ok to (talk) me while I'm on my quest to talk to companies I care about. "

Computer Science companies were particularly bad at this yesterday. I wrote down about 10 companies I wanted to talk to and while the companies that pulled me aside seemed interesting, I had no idea what they did or what kind of openings they had, so it was awkward.

2/7/2013 9:21:59 AM

^^^ don't blame me because you can't keep up with your shit.

2/14/2013 6:47:44 AM

Quote :

"tshirt from Mustang engineering"

got one of those back in '09 when I crashed the fair b/c I was looking for a job.

No shit there I was story:

Was working at AT&T, hating life in their "NOC" due to incompetent management, so I was like fuck it, I"m gonna crash the job fair. Went there with something like 180 copies of my resume, talked to everyone there, got tons of free shit, and got a job the next week.

I call that a WIN.

2/14/2013 7:02:42 AM

Bttt

10/1/2013 12:29:03 PM

why

I'm Krallum and I approved this message.

10/1/2013 12:51:31 PM

#1 reason to go to the career fair: mini scales.

10/1/2013 1:34:36 PM

I would just like to state for the record that the old guy directing traffic in the parking lot directly in front of the McKimmon Center was a giant unprofessional asshole power tripping over directing cars one way or the other.

That said, we use the resumes we get at the career fair as well. Not only does it tell us what you want to do, we get a feel for your communication skills and personality which allows us to pick people who aren't total nerds.

10/2/2013 10:43:00 AM