Career Fairs: May I Have a Mug, Sir? • Hacker News Board

Re: Career Fairs: May I Have a Mug, Sir?

#21

Post by kd0amg » Thu, Feb 10, 2011, 8:25 PM UTC

artmageddon wrote: post #8

In my experience, recruiters who set up at career fairs tend to do it wrong sometimes, too. I haven't been to a career fair since I graduated university in 2004, but there are reasons I stopped going to them. 1. Show Up . This is self-explanatory, right? On a number of occasions, a company would set up a table with a poster or two alongside a locked bin for people to drop their resumes in. I don't mind if a one-perso…

From my experience here, I would add:

7. Don't just direct everyone to your web site. This ties in to some extent with #2. If you're not meeting the students, setting up interviews, holding info sessions, etc., then your physical presence is superfluous and distorts students' expectations of career fair.

8. Don't say you're looking for students from all majors. You won't get taken seriously. Maybe your company really does have openings in every field this school offers, but USPTO is the only employer I've seen who can even come close to justifying this claim.

It's also worth noting that students (here, at least) talk to each other about the recruiters they've encountered. Students remember really good recruiters and those who make serious faux pas.

Re: Career Fairs: May I Have a Mug, Sir?

#22

Post by shaggyfrog » Thu, Feb 10, 2011, 9:23 PM UTC

artmageddon wrote: post #8

In my experience, recruiters who set up at career fairs tend to do it wrong sometimes, too. I haven't been to a career fair since I graduated university in 2004, but there are reasons I stopped going to them. 1. Show Up . This is self-explanatory, right? On a number of occasions, a company would set up a table with a poster or two alongside a locked bin for people to drop their resumes in. I don't mind if a one-perso…

> The first thing he asked me was my GPA, and after telling him it was about .08 points under their minimum cut-off, he simply handed my resume back and refused to talk to me.

They did you a big favour as that's a giant red flag. Visions of pointy-haired bosses and inscrutable bureaucracies flash through my mind.

Re: Career Fairs: May I Have a Mug, Sir?

#23

Post by ig1 » Thu, Feb 10, 2011, 10:08 PM UTC

artmageddon wrote: post #8

In my experience, recruiters who set up at career fairs tend to do it wrong sometimes, too. I haven't been to a career fair since I graduated university in 2004, but there are reasons I stopped going to them. 1. Show Up . This is self-explanatory, right? On a number of occasions, a company would set up a table with a poster or two alongside a locked bin for people to drop their resumes in. I don't mind if a one-perso…

The reasons for some of these behaviours:

3) Imagine you have 10,000 more or less identical CVs, how do you propose to filter them in a cost efficient manner ? - GPA is a quick and dirty solution. Sure you might miss out on some good people, but that's always going to be the case with whichever criteria you use.

4) Sending an extra person for the day will cost a company around $1500. The handfull of students who aren't willing to hang around for a bit aren't worth that extra cost.

Re: Career Fairs: May I Have a Mug, Sir?

#24

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Feb 10, 2011, 10:31 PM UTC

xteemarie wrote: post #5

larrik wrote: post #4

"Please do not fart by our table and then walk away. I beg you." So you should fart and then NOT walk away? Clearly, you should stick around because... we will want to hire you? I mean, what's the alternative here?

Use the bathroom. Hold it in.

[deleted]

Re: Career Fairs: May I Have a Mug, Sir?

#25

Post by jrockway » Thu, Feb 10, 2011, 11:18 PM UTC

kd0amg wrote: post #21

artmageddon wrote: post #8

In my experience, recruiters who set up at career fairs tend to do it wrong sometimes, too. I haven't been to a career fair since I graduated university in 2004, but there are reasons I stopped going to them. 1. Show Up . This is self-explanatory, right? On a number of occasions, a company would set up a table with a poster or two alongside a locked bin for people to drop their resumes in. I don't mind if a one-perso…

From my experience here, I would add: 7. Don't just direct everyone to your web site. This ties in to some extent with #2. If you're not meeting the students, setting up interviews, holding info sessions, etc., then your physical presence is superfluous and distorts students' expectations of career fair. 8. Don't say you're looking for students from all majors. You won't get taken seriously. Maybe your company really…

Don't say you're looking for students from all majors

Why not? If you're smart and are interested in programming, it's quite possible that I am willing to "take a chance" on you. It doesn't really matter if you studied data structures or English literature; CS majors have as much experience writing real software as English majors do.

Re: Career Fairs: May I Have a Mug, Sir?

#26

Post by bartonfink » Thu, Feb 10, 2011, 11:35 PM UTC

jrockway wrote: post #25

kd0amg wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From my experience here, I would add: 7. Don't just direct everyone to your web site. This ties in to some extent with #2. If you're not meeting the students, setting up interviews, holding info sessions, etc., then your physical presence is superfluous and distorts students' expectations of career fair. 8. Don't say you're looking for students from all majors. You won't get taken seriously. Maybe your company really…

Don't say you're looking for students from all majors Why not? If you're smart and are interested in programming, it's quite possible that I am willing to "take a chance" on you. It doesn't really matter if you studied data structures or English literature; CS majors have as much experience writing real software as English majors do.

If you're really worried about students from "all majors" being unqualified, then it seems to me that the answer is requesting a small coding project ala FizzBuzz to seperate the wheat and the chaff. Those who can, do - those who can't... do something else.

Re: Career Fairs: May I Have a Mug, Sir?

#27

Post by kd0amg » Thu, Feb 10, 2011, 11:57 PM UTC

jrockway wrote: post #25

kd0amg wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From my experience here, I would add: 7. Don't just direct everyone to your web site. This ties in to some extent with #2. If you're not meeting the students, setting up interviews, holding info sessions, etc., then your physical presence is superfluous and distorts students' expectations of career fair. 8. Don't say you're looking for students from all majors. You won't get taken seriously. Maybe your company really…

Don't say you're looking for students from all majors Why not? If you're smart and are interested in programming, it's quite possible that I am willing to "take a chance" on you. It doesn't really matter if you studied data structures or English literature; CS majors have as much experience writing real software as English majors do.

Around here, students generally major in what they want to do for a career. It's not that a person isn't capable of doing things they didn't study -- they just aren't likely to be all that interested.

Re: Career Fairs: May I Have a Mug, Sir?

#28

Post by agentargo » Fri, Feb 11, 2011, 5:38 AM UTC

As a college senior, my experience with career fairs has been sub-par. In fact I stopped going two years ago. My main qualm is the type of companies that set up booths. They are always Lockheed Martin, Microsoft, Haliburton and other extremely large companies. I think getting, smaller, local companies involved would be a great idea. I did get a summer job at Qualcomm from one of these career fairs, but honestly it sucked and has turned me off from working at a Fortune 500 company as a new grad.