if i recall, as a student i was told to have an introduction when meeting a potential employer. As well as being involved and asking questions. I think this should still apply and it definetely looks good and feels less akward for everyone involved.

I do however realize that many qualified people along with people who are good fits get nervous.

9/17/2008 3:48:40 PM

Quote :

"^^ Yeah, I talked with Fluor last year. I just can't relocate that far away right now."

word, thats understandable. Im surprised you even remembered I worked there, I think ive only mentioned it like 2 or 3 times on tww the past year ive worked there

9/17/2008 4:14:56 PM

Yeah, I think you posted it in the engineering jobs thread a while back.

9/17/2008 4:32:36 PM

hey, there's like this job fair in seattle, that i was thinking about going to, because, you know, i live in seattle.

did i ever mention i live in seattle.

seattle is cool.

9/17/2008 11:49:58 PM

seattle is cool overrated

9/18/2008 8:31:28 AM

Quote :

"we are the only one to ever put someone on the moon so if they don't know who we are, then odds are they aren't gonna get hired"

Yeah, but like you said NASA does more than just send shit up into space. They do other neat research for civilian applications that a lot of people don't know about (unless they watch the discovery channel/tlc/science channel, haha).

Quote :

"i have to say that i don't think it's the job of the recruiter to be the one to introduce the company. I think it is up to the person seeking jobs/information to be the one to ask questions."

I think it is up to the company to introduce themselves if they aren't all that big. A lot of companies at the career fair aren't on a lot of people's radar before they go there, and while you can glean a bit from their website, a lot of the companies there have shitty websites as well (something generic with a few mission statements and a list of disciplines which they may or may not have much experience with).

I also say the recruiter should introduce the company because undergrads don't know what the hell they're doing at a career fair unless they're getting towards their senior year. Prospective employees should always be inquisitive and have something to ask the employers and to show for themselves at the career fair, but recruiters should make some effort to recruit and throw their company out there to give students a better idea of what they do and where most of their work is focused. If there's two engineering firms at the fair and one specializes in commercial/industrial building design and the other specializes in parking deck design, you might not know that from a description bullet on the website that says "structural engineering".

9/18/2008 11:58:08 AM

^ fair statement about smaller or unknown companies and or shitty websites

how am i expected to keep a straight face when a candidate walks up to our table and asks "so, what does [looks at banner] caterpillar do?"

when our banner has construction equipment and engines and shit on it. seriously?

i understand everyone on the planet doesnt know what caterpillar is or what we do, but look at the fucking pictures and at least fake it.

it makes me even more hopeless when they're a college of management student. seeing as caterpillar gives the college tons of money and our ceo is an alumni

9/18/2008 12:27:48 PM

^ Haha, hopefully that won't happen. My comments were mostly directed at the smaller, out-of-state companies that were hiring at our career fair and that weren't well-known of to begin with and that had a kinda lousy booth setup (so you weren't 100% sure what they were there for or what they did). There's probably nobody alive that doesn't know what Caterpillar does.

[Edited on September 18, 2008 at 12:36 PM. Reason : Nobody alive in this part of the country anyway.]

9/18/2008 12:36:04 PM

Twas a good time. Although there were lots of ... unintelligent... students that kept asking me if I was an astronaut or if I were going to space. I felt bad for a lot of them though because A) They were definitely qualified but they weren't US citizens or B) They had a genuine interest and they really had a passion for it but they were either in a major that we weren't looking for (Public relations? Communications?) or they just didn't have the grades.

10/6/2008 11:00:47 AM

Yea I had fun working it.

10/6/2008 11:09:43 AM

^^ you're not an astronaut?!

jk

it was neat seeing people i went to school with recruiting for other companies. but then i was like, "my job kicks your job's ass!"

10/6/2008 12:40:35 PM

lol

10/6/2008 12:51:30 PM

And I did trade some freebies btw, I got some cool stuff. Although I went towards the end of the fair when things were dying down and all the really cool freebies had been given out.

10/6/2008 1:27:12 PM

Was fun times to work it too, but was anyone else kinda weirded out?

I was in those student's shoes a few years back...I guess it kinda hit home that I'm old now.

But yeah, was fun.

It was interesting how nervous they are. I'm sure I was too...but as a recruiter I was just talking and relaxed and all, and they are sweating it out.

10/7/2008 11:16:42 AM

haha yea. it was a little weird but like I said, fun. And yea I felt relaxed all day.

10/7/2008 11:22:01 AM

Oh yeah, the nervous ones were the funniest. Kept calling me "sir" and stuff like that.

10/7/2008 12:26:07 PM