Career By Design

This time of the year is when most schools have job fairs and students are getting prepared for them. I know I attended these job fairs since my freshman year to get experience and get comfortable speaking with employers. These events are great to get to know companies in your area and learn what they are doing. More often than not, the people at these job fairs are not the ones in charge of hiring. I always approach them trying to learn if they enjoy the work they do as well as trying to figure out if the company would be the right fit for me.

What is some advice you would give students getting ready to attend job fairs? What questions have you asked or been asked during an interview?

------------------------------
Luis Duque EIT, A.M.ASCE
Structural Engineer
Broomfield CO
luis@...
------------------------------

One good advice is to sit down and review your resume. The resume should be up to date with the most current activities, especially if the student had a summer internship. I know the University of Houston ASCE Student Chapter has a Resume Fair every semester. The resume fair connects the students with engineers in a casual environment. Engineers help the students by reviewing their resumes and providing tips to improve them. This semester was my second year attending a Career Fair as a recruiter and I noticed the students that attended the Resume Fair were more self-assured in what to say and more fluent when talking about their resume.

------------------------------
Julian Valencia A.M.ASCE
Project Engineer
Richmond TX
------------------------------

Hey Luis,

I've helped out with LA ASCE's job fair for the past few years. It is pretty nerve-racking being a student trying to talk to recruiters. Sometimes you don't know what to say, and sometimes you can't tell if you're rambling or not. My biggest advice is to just take some time to prepare. If you think you can go in and wing it, you're probably not going to have a good time.

Some tips:
-Research companies and see how it aligns with your interests
-Develop a short 30s elevator pitch of yourself
-Prepare a list of questions you want to ask the recruiter
-When you feel satisfied, have a polite 'thanks for speaking with me, I'll follow up with you via email' closing line

Best,
Paul


------------------------------
Paul Lee P.E., M.ASCE
Civil Engineering Associate
Los Angeles Dept. of Water and Power
Los Angeles CA
------------------------------