Twas the night before career fair when all through RIT, not a student was sleeping, not even Ritchie, the mascot; The resumes were typed in folders so pretty in hopes that a future co-op would be waiting….
Tomorrow, Wednesday to be specific, will be the career fair. One of the biggest events that RIT holds on campus and a year ago to date was my first career fair. I told myself that I was totally ready for it! My papers were all in order, my professional attire was laid out for the day and…..ok, I was far from what I have mentioned. I was a crazy mess! I thought the resume I had been constantly updating for the past year was not good enough, so I created a new one to be printed out the next day before the fair. When I arrived at school, I was scared and nervous and worried about throwing myself out there. It took about five to six people to calm me down, including a complete stranger who encouraged me to talk to any company just to get started. Although the words were comforting, I was nervous. The time was counting down and I knew that if I didn’t head over now, I may miss an opportunity. Walking over to the Gordon Field House was hard. Multiple times I had to remind myself to breathe and not pass out. On the bright side, I would have been by a blue box if I had passed out. Anyway, once I walked in, I quickly located one of my tour guide buddies who I decided to follow because I was a bundle of shaking nerves. We had our professional headshots taken, walked around, and then (by her urging and also a quick shove at a company) I began to talk.
The first company I talked with offered me an interview which was very exciting. After that I just kept going. I talked with about twelve companies and even a few more who were just starting to create a marketing/advertising/public relations sector. Two more companies I had talked to had an interest in me and strongly encouraged that I apply to their program. I was so excited and am still excited, years after the event.
Point is, career fair is super exciting and beneficial! Back then, I was only a second year and creating my own major; today I'm a third year still creating my own major. I still market the skills that I have developed and the fact that I am creating my own major receives applause from companies. The one thing that has changed is that this year I will be recruiting with the company I am currently interning at and will be able to see the career fair from "the other side" which will be pretty exciting.
Point is fter the whole thing is over, you have this sense of relief to go back to “normal” clothes, but at the same time it is a bit sad, for multiple reasons. For one, I won’t have the opportunity to attend another career fair for another six months. Second, it is really exciting and nerve-racking and spectacular to be at a professional career event where everyone gets dressed up and looks for possible employment. It sounds a bit odd, but the experience is hard to organize into words. I would highly recommend to be a part of the career fair as early as possible just to relieve yourself of some jitters and nervousness. You don’t have to be looking for a co-op, you could volunteer at the fair and assist companies in setting up. In summary: career fair is awesome and take advantage of the events that the career services offices holds. Until Next Time!