After-Grad.com

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 3rd, 2007 at 4:17 pm by Pratik Shah.

Here’s another master’s first semester special.

Date: September 27, 2007

Time: 11:00 am to 5:00 pm

Event: UMR Fall Career Fair

The Fall Career Fair at UMR is the largest in the mid-west where around 300 companies from all disciplines come in the hunt for bachelors, masters and PhD students. We are just into our first semester without something which is one of the most important things for the employers i.e. GPA. So job/co-op/intern opportunities are obviously going to be very few. It’s the first major event at the university. Of course we cannot afford to miss it. Wearing a suit is also compulsory.

Here’s what we do.

Divide the gang in 2 parts. Share a blazer between two people. First half I go and in the second half, the other person goes.

You may ask. Why such great desperation to go to the career fair when you are not going to get anything out of it?

Who said there’s nothing to gain from a career fair in the US?

The employers come with a lot of freebies to give away to the students they interact with. That’s what we want…. FREEBIES!!!! While our seniors are in search of jobs and are trying to locate where the stalls of their short-listed companies are, we freshers are busy looking at the stalls of the employers and not their names. This is just to see what freebies they have. If you like the freebies, just hope that they are there to recruit students from your department (electrical for me had around 70 employers). If the pair matches, its party time!!! Go to them and ask a few stupid questions and expect an obvious answer of the types… ‘Come back in Spring’. Say a nice, polite thanks and ask if you could take the thing on the table. The obvious answer is going to be “yes” (That’s when you say in your minds…. “Idiots… that’s why I came to listen to your non-sense”). Happily accept the freebie and put it in your bag. This bag is provided by the career center at the entrance (obviously they know why the freshers have come to attend the fair). That’s about all for the career fair. The interesting thing is the list of things that I managed to collect in 3 hours. Here it goes

1. A lot of pens
2. Markers and Highlighters
3. Table Lamps
4. Chocolates
5. Bathroom Slippers
6. Sling Bags - 4 nos
7. Travel/Hot keeper mugs - 3 nos
8. T-shirts (great quality) - 9 nos

Now that’s what is the actual definition of success at the Career Fair. Do not forget to take photographs to show off before you return the suit.

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