Career Fair? No thank you.
Resume-dropping, smile-flashing, passion-flaunting career fairs make me want to barf.
I don't even know where to begin with how many reasons I *don't* want to get recruited from a career fair.
(A)
Recruitment by a recruiter makes little sense to me. I intend to communicate with the actual leader who needs help -- before getting hired -- he's the one I'll be working for anyway! If I can't meet him in person, I should meet with his assistant or someone who works closely with him, and be sure to communicate with the leader via email. My direct leader is the one who will get his way if he wants me, and I will have no guesses as to who I'll be working with. Every team has a subculture. It's the particular *people* I'll be interacting with that matter, more than the company as a whole. That's especially true for an internship, where there's not as much expectation to continue on with other roles (and thus change one's social environment).
(B)
Preparing for interviews and the like provides little value to anyone unless I'm going to be a politician sometime soon (no). It's largely a waste of time and energy. I want to spend that time - on mock interviews, calculated resumes, impressing hired middlemen - actually doing things that meaningfully develop myself in valuable ways. Call me whatever words come to mind, but I feel like putting myself on the same level as all the other applicants lowers me substantially. It erodes my mystique and value by association. That's especially since my competitors are nearly 100% from the Business school (not to mention the Greek system). I'm not average. Why go subject myself to the dirty, tooth-and-claw competition of mediocrity? It appears these processes are designed to cull the best-achieving conformists from the mediocrity. There's far less competition at the "top", marketing unique perspectives and traits that no-one else has.
(C)
I'm interviewing people of the company just as much as they are me. Are they good enough for me? I'm not going to get that from recruiters at college fairs. They give me fluff and are not motivated to speak their minds. I've got to go to the real decision-makers and people I'll be working for and with. Besides, independently researching companies and approaching them myself is much more sensible and initiative-demonstrating than passively wading through whatever companies decide to make themselves available that day.
Just to make sure, I briefly looked into all the companies attending a career fair today. None of them are intriguing enough to want to approach in person. One question that arises for me, though, is the possibility of consulting in the health care, energy, or sustainability industries. I do have a biology degree on the way along with my Honors sociology.
So, what am I going to do instead? Relax after many hours of study by watching a bit of my beloved anime series, Evangelion. =D
~Odyssey
I don't even know where to begin with how many reasons I *don't* want to get recruited from a career fair.
(A)
Recruitment by a recruiter makes little sense to me. I intend to communicate with the actual leader who needs help -- before getting hired -- he's the one I'll be working for anyway! If I can't meet him in person, I should meet with his assistant or someone who works closely with him, and be sure to communicate with the leader via email. My direct leader is the one who will get his way if he wants me, and I will have no guesses as to who I'll be working with. Every team has a subculture. It's the particular *people* I'll be interacting with that matter, more than the company as a whole. That's especially true for an internship, where there's not as much expectation to continue on with other roles (and thus change one's social environment).
(B)
Preparing for interviews and the like provides little value to anyone unless I'm going to be a politician sometime soon (no). It's largely a waste of time and energy. I want to spend that time - on mock interviews, calculated resumes, impressing hired middlemen - actually doing things that meaningfully develop myself in valuable ways. Call me whatever words come to mind, but I feel like putting myself on the same level as all the other applicants lowers me substantially. It erodes my mystique and value by association. That's especially since my competitors are nearly 100% from the Business school (not to mention the Greek system). I'm not average. Why go subject myself to the dirty, tooth-and-claw competition of mediocrity? It appears these processes are designed to cull the best-achieving conformists from the mediocrity. There's far less competition at the "top", marketing unique perspectives and traits that no-one else has.
(C)
I'm interviewing people of the company just as much as they are me. Are they good enough for me? I'm not going to get that from recruiters at college fairs. They give me fluff and are not motivated to speak their minds. I've got to go to the real decision-makers and people I'll be working for and with. Besides, independently researching companies and approaching them myself is much more sensible and initiative-demonstrating than passively wading through whatever companies decide to make themselves available that day.
Just to make sure, I briefly looked into all the companies attending a career fair today. None of them are intriguing enough to want to approach in person. One question that arises for me, though, is the possibility of consulting in the health care, energy, or sustainability industries. I do have a biology degree on the way along with my Honors sociology.
So, what am I going to do instead? Relax after many hours of study by watching a bit of my beloved anime series, Evangelion. =D
~Odyssey