As I promised in my other blog, I've decided to shair with y'all the lessons I learned from the job fair I went to last week.
It was a job fair for UW, UofG, WLU and Conestoga College students and alumni. It is billed as the "largest of its kind in Canada", whatever that means. It was held at the RIM Park in Waterloo and had some 200 organizations. The following are my observations from the event:
1. No one wants hard copies of resumes. I spoke with a lot of people and no one wants the hassle of lugging around resumes. They all simply referred me to the website and told me to send it in. I think its still a good idea to be prepared at a job fair, but i was way too gungo-ho about them and I printed off 10 coverletter/resume combos and handed none out.
2. Upload your resume. Even if there aren't relevant jobs posted at the time. I've always thought that i'd send in my resume when I find a good posting, but that means I'm constantly looking at teh website. Big companies like RIM or Manulife have people that search the existing database of resumes whenever they post a new opening. If you fit the criteria, they contact you. That way, if you go a week without checking a website, you can still find out about opportunities.
3. The Economy IS bad. I went to last year's job fair and the difference is striking. This year they only had to use one big room. Last year they used the big room and a gymnasium as well. There were probably 40-50 less organizations this year. Big corporations like PepsiCo and Loblaws (or is it Loblaw?) were absent this year after being popular exhibitors last year.
4. Too bad we aren't engineers or accountants. The one thing I've noticed from the two job fairs I have gone to this year (this one and the Federal Public Servants Fair at UW) is that these fairs are targetted by organizations' Human Resources for hiring campaigns. Each year these companies high bajillions of chemists, engineers, biologists, or whatever else comprises the backbone of their company. They don't goto job fairs on PR or Corp Comm hiring campaigns so you aren't likely to find someone with positions open for the fields we study (but it doesn't hurt to try).
Perhaps most importantly,
5. Current job postings are intended to be filled before we are done school. I asked a bunch of employers about job postings. I'm always looking at what is out there and seeing if there is anything that I like. Lately, I've come across a few that I'm very interested in. I asked employers if it is too early for an April grad/May intern to apply for positions. The unanimous answer was that it is indeed too soon to apply. From what I gather, job postings are looking for the position to be filled by approximately 4 weeks from the close of the posting. They all told me if I was still going to apply, I needed to be upfront in my cover letter because you may be wasting the employer's time if they find out during the interview that you aren't available until April/May.
That last point is probably the most frustrating. I want to have a job lined up now! I am not really a fan of the uncertainty of it.
Anyways, sorry for the long post. Learned afew things that I wanted to share. Sorry if they were nothing but "No $#!t Sherlock" moments.
Feel free to share your comments.
