Career Fair at School...

So, last Friday (now that I'm posting this on 11/8/06), we had a Career Fair at the college. These are my rambling thoughts about the whole event.

I got there early. Since Rob was off, he was able to get Cassi ready and off to school. Plus, we got some nasty snow the Thursday night. Rob figured that I should get an early start.

After arriving, and walking forever to the place, I signed in and got my information packet. Because I also had class on Friday, I wanted to come early, but I also parked in my regular lot and walked. I believe I walked 4-5 blocks each way, IN A SUIT!

So, I had a plan. I scoped out the locations of all the companies I wanted to talk to. Even though I knew I wasn't going to get a job with the Elyria Police, I wanted to stop and say hello because they are my police department. I wanted them to know that not everyone at the fair was from Cleveland. Plus, it was nice to meet some of the officers who take care of us.

I stopped and chatted real quickly with all of the Career Services folks who have been helping me through this process. There was Julie, Anita, Philomena, and Yolanda. Also, I've helped them through the Career Week process by converting their ads from Publisher to InDesign for the Stater newspaper. Then, as you might remember, I taught/presented one of the their information sessions on Monday (Developing Your Online Portfolio).

So, my first company that I wanted to go to was Lubrizol. I checked with Anita, who I'd been working with, asking if I should mention about the upcoming co-op opportunities. Well, to my disappointment, the contact Anita's been working with was not at the fair. The two gentlemen, even though they were very nice, had no idea what I was talking about. But, they took my resume with some notes they added on the back. Anita and I figured that it might be a good opportunity to get my resume into the contact's hands, so that maybe the process would move quicker. From there, I went to see Hyland Software.

As some people know, I want to get back into Technical Writing. I did that for so many years at E&Y, but without the Bachelor's Degree (why I'm in school now). I did that job with only an Associate's Degree, but also because I was there. I REALLY love helping people learn and use technology. So, the day before, when I was getting my resumes together, I looked at their site. According to their site, they are, indeed, hiring for more Technical Writers. I printed out the job description, making sure I knew what questions to ask about the job. They were very happy to talk with me. I told them how I'd been to the presentation the company gave last spring. From that, I was inspired to create my online portfolio (http://eportfolio.cathyhennes.com). Then, because of my portfolio, I was asked to teach/present. Finally, I went to the presentation this time, and asked about internships. The woman I was speaking with asked me what I was looking for. And I said all of the above (internship, co-op, full-time). Of course, with full-time, I would continue taking my classes 2 at a time, but go year round to finish my degree. I then asked about the Technical Writer openings, and the requirements for the job. They asked me for a resume, which I quickly handed to them. They told me it would take about 2 weeks for any reply for my resume. (By 6pm that night, I had an email, asking for me to complete the online job application process. This ABSOLUTELY stunned me that they didn't even take 4 hours to reply.)

The rest of the companies are just a blur. I've got all their information. The huge disappointment for the fair was how many companies said to "apply online." Yes, they accepted my resume, but I wasn't very confident that they would keep the resume, unless I applied online. One company in particular, National City Bank. They didn't even really want to take my resume. "Just apply online," was what I was told. So, my thinking is that they were going to throw out my resume.

American Greetings was really nice. They had stuff to hand out, but didn't ask for a resume. Penton Media was very nice. They did ask for a resume, but I had to ask for a business card. Another disappointment, for the companies I did stop at, they continued to forget to give out business cards. I had to ask. They should always REMEMBER to have business card ready to give. I remember, when I worked at E&Y, we gave out our business cards to EVERYONE.

But, as I was talking with Penton Media, E&Y was standing right next to Penton's booth. I could sense them listening in as I talked about my employment with E&Y, and I could sense their ATTITUDE, that "holier than thou" type of attitude. I don't want to go back to them if you PAID me (well, yes I would because I know the culture and the business.)

So, that was my experience. We'll see what happens with the Hyland Software-thing. I'll blog and let everyone know.

Love to all,
Cathy
8^ )