Making the Best of
On-Campus Recruiting
You are going to be sucked into
a process that is very stressful and very uncommon in the real world. On campus
recruiting could be a rigorous 2 week to a month period in which you will be
sending more resumes than you ever thought possible, attend more information
sessions that you would care to attend, and hopefully be interviewed by a slew
of different companies. In this period, you will be so focused on this job
search, that school will become a second priority. This is alright since you are
trying to secure yourself a position for your future or for at least the next
couple of years.
Here are some tips and suggestions to making campus
recruiting more beneficial and less stress inducing to you.
 |
Attend all the campus recruiting information meetings. Questions that you
probably have will be answered during these sessions. You will also get a
sense of the corporate culture of the company and pick up any material that
they might be giving out.
|
|
Without looking too keen, you might introduce yourself to the individuals
who are leading the recruiting information session after the session is
over. Ask more questions and just converse with them. This creates a
name-face association which is a good first step. This way when comes the
interview, a recognition occurs which might put you more at ease.
|
|
With the number of interviews you might be subjected to in such a short
time span, it is better to be prepared in advance. These campus recruiting
information sessions will help you do so as you will be able to distinguish
one company from the next.
|
|
This process is as rigorous on the interviewer as it is on you. You might
have 4 or 5 first round interviews in a couple of days, but the interviewer
might see 10-15 potential recruits in one sitting. This is excruciatingly
tiresome.
|
|
As this is the case you want to make sure that you not only stand out from
the crowd, but you also do not want to annoy them in any way. They are
already irritable and anything done, even subtly to tick them off might
affect your chances of making it to the second round of interviewing. So be
sure to be cordial, polite, sincere, and UNPRETENTIOUS.
|
|
Make sure you are enthusiastic. Downright bubbly and trigger happy might
be detrimental but show some energy and some interest (even if feigned) so
that you do not put them to sleep. Again, these individuals see at least 10
people a day. They hear most of the same answers. They have to distinguish
you in some way. Being aware and enthusiastic about the interview process
can only boost your chances of making a positive impression to them.
|
|
Make sure to thank them at the end of the interview. |
