Winter Career Expo

What do you think it would be like to search for a job for a year? The idea just struck me today. It seems like the kind of thing a person might write a book about: being professionally unemployed for a year, or something like that. I wonder what sort of things you'd learn about the job market, interviewing, career fairs, and so on. I've only been at it for a month and a half and I think I know what career fairs are all about. Here's how it works:

-Beforehand, you narrow it down like this: which companies will be there, which ones are hiring for the kind of work you are looking for (full-time, co-op, internship, part-time), which ones sound interesting, which ones sound like they require skills you have.
-Make little packets about yourself. Mine currently are comprised of my resume and my unofficial transcripts. You can also include cover letters and maybe put everything in a folder. The folder makes you stand out a little and shows foresight.
-The company rep conversation should go about like this: introduce yourself, explain your education, describe why you are interested in them, ask a question or two, give them your packet, and discuss. Don't forget to take notes and be charming.

That's really it. It just takes a little practice to get used to the experience.

Anyway, the second career fair was today. I talked to less companies than I did at the Tuesday fair, but I feel I got a better reception. I actually got scheduled for an interview at the fair, which has never happened to me before. The companies that I talked to were almost all consultancies. I think I'd like the variety of being a consultant.

I'm trying to come up with some more-organized way of communicating to my readers which job opportunities I'm currently in the running for. Maybe some kind of embedded Google Spreadsheet? For now, you'll have to settle for these text updates: tomorrow, I'm talking on the phone with a headhunter about one of the positions I've mentioned previously, phone interviewing with the Chicago software opportunity I also mentioned previously, and regular interviewing with an infrastructure engineering company that I met at today's career fair. Phew.