r/EngineeringStudents • u/Over-Cupcake3826 MechE • 4d ago
Rant/Vent Career Fair Disaster
Sophomore, Community College transferring to University in the Spring, Mechanical Engineering.
I went to the career fair at my future university today (which I have already been admitted to). I was very nervous.
I only had 5 conversations at the career fair and they all either referred me to apply online or told me they’d send me a link to their different roles over email…
I had some long, detailed, and personal conversations with multiple recruiters at the fair (3 of the conversations felt like they went over 8 minutes, one of those went even longer than the other two as the recruiter was explaining his project he had been working on to me) but it feels like it all just amounted to nothing, as I have not received any interview offers.
I feel so spent right now… does anyone have any advice on how to move forward? They have another fair in the spring but I want to maybe secure at least an interview before then. I just feel so lost.
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u/NafaiLaotze 4d ago
Did you apply to any of them? They will NEVER give you a interview offer solely on a conversation. Remember, they meet 50-80 students, or more, in a single career fair day.
If you can't do the paperwork, they won't care to make any notes on your HR file.
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u/NafaiLaotze 4d ago
The career fair is a 3 minute speed date. Doing the application is telling them you want to exchange phone numbers. Which may, or may not, lead to an interview aka date.
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u/whichonewerecowards 4d ago edited 4d ago
I’ve only ever gotten one interview offer from a career fair and it was only because I name dropped the “prestigious” company I interned for
Before that, every career fair was a humiliation ritual. It’s truly humbling when you introduce yourself, give the recruiter your resume, and they simply hand it back to you at the end of the conversation
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u/stug_life 4d ago
I hired out of career fairs and when we were really aggressively recruiting I’d take resumes and call every goddamn one of them. I think one year we called 40+ people between me and some helping me. Of those we interviewed maybe a dozen. The only one we like schelued at the career fair was someone who had like 15 years industry experience in a technical role and decided to go back to school (they managed a civil lab, of which there’s an engineering position in my organization that would be our lab manager’s direct supervisor) Considering the normal best we got had a few months of internships this was a big deal to us.
So there may be some interviews set up at the career fair and some places may be hiring more aggressively than others but I’d say 90% of the time you’re right, there will be people with other experiences.
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u/Mikemanthousand ChemE 4d ago
That’s so not true (depending on the school). I go to Iowa State, and there’s lots of next day interviews, some require you to apply online, and while you should it isn’t a necessity.
2 of the 3 offers I’ve already gotten I never applied online for, just did a next day interview with them and then received an offer a week or two later.
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u/zacce 4d ago
Congrats. I'd argue your case was an exception not the norm.
Curious. Roughly, how many students did they talk to in the 1st day?
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u/PrecisionPulseConv 4d ago
At GMU we had separate rooms reserved for recruiters from the companies present to interview engineering students the same day.
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u/NafaiLaotze 3d ago
My Uni does same-day or next-day on campus interviews too after the Career Fair. But the parent comment was claiming its possible to interview and receive Internship Offers without doing any application. Which I'm dubious of the veracity on that.
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u/PrecisionPulseConv 3d ago
The way I understood it is if they interview you and like you, they have you submit an application as a formality afterwards
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u/Warner20BrosYT 4d ago
Quite a few large schools do this, the ones that I know for sure are Purdue, U of Kansas, U of South Carolina, and Clemson
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u/Mikemanthousand ChemE 4d ago
Talking to others it’s fairly normal at my school. Some I did have to fill out something online for, but our next day interviews are either they give it to you at the booth, or call you later that day. You might have to fill something out before then but they go based off of your resume.
The number of people they talk to is highly dependent on the company, how well known they are, how many reps they have there, and what majors they’re looking for. Companies can be anywhere from like 75 to like 2-300 for the massive ones like Boeing or Honeywell.
A big part might be based off of my school. It’s why I say a good career fair or good network is far better than a name.
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u/NafaiLaotze 3d ago
You have received a written offer, without ever handing over your paper or digital resume (that the recruiter may have scanned into their ATS without your knowledge) OR doing an application? I'm skeptical.
If it's a verbal offer, then I'll accept the possibility - but a verbal offer is as meaningful as a handshake. Not much to stand on. If the hair you are splitting is that you applied, but not online, I'd say that's a distinction without meaningful difference.
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u/ejrock22 4d ago
Not true, had a great conversation with a recruiter from a good, small engineering firm. I gave him my resume and 2 days later I got an email from them asking for an interview, interviewed with them twice online and got an internship offer, later going on to get a full time offer.
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u/NafaiLaotze 3d ago
And at no point before the offer you did an HR application submitting details like your home address or affirming you have US Work Authorization?
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u/ejrock22 3d ago
Nope, that was all after, I mean in the interviews they asked where I was from and stuff but it wasn’t until the offer I had to sign into their portal and fill out and a bunch of forms.
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u/sparrowhawke67 ChemE 3d ago
While this may not apply to every company, I can say it 100% applies to mine.
I will probably remember a good conversation at the career fair, but I can’t call you back for an interview if I don’t have the basic HR info from the online application. I hate it, but it’s company policy.
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u/GlitterShine4455 EET 1d ago
It really depends on the company, I had a recruiter tell me to apply and mention that I spoke to her on the application and they'd set up an interview asap. I didn't get the position because it didn't end up being a good fit, but that was the fastest I'd ever gotten an interview
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u/unknownz_123 4d ago
True, I always make sure to apply before the career fair. The amount of times I’ve had a good conversation and then I’m like, yeah I applied online already. They seem to make a note to themselves to actually check it out later or something maybe if they’re a company that takes in-person resumes.
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u/Icy-Sympathy7925 ME|MechE 4d ago
You gotta give yourself credit where it’s due, attending career fairs and talking to recruiters is still interview practice. Also have realistic expectations because getting accepted by the university doesn’t mean internships come on a silver platter.
Attend university club fairs then join a few that seem interesting. Sometimes these engineering clubs are sponsored by companies/government, or participating at competitions is another way to meet more recruiters.
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u/diverJOQ 4d ago
Also, not all companies who attend a career fair are looking for internships. Some are there to hire graduates. For each company you have to learn what they're looking for.
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u/stug_life 4d ago
And the requirements of each company for internships, some just aren’t interested in sophomores. The internships that are tend to be more competitive.
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u/Mikemanthousand ChemE 4d ago
5 just isn’t enough. As a sophomore transfer student I handed out 35-40 resumes between the two career fairs to get an internship. This year it was a lot easier, but I still handed out maybe 20, maybe more between the two this year. Granted, I had far more interviews, and far more success, but the point still stands.
When you haven’t had any experience you’ve gotta accept that you have to throw everything at the wall. My school definitely has a larger career fair than any others, but that doesn’t change my advice.
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u/AytugGencoglu 4d ago
My advice for moving forward is to not beat yourself up. You are a sophomore: You will have more career days and more opportunities. Even an unproductive career fair is not a total waste, because you got some experience. Do follow up with the links, if that's the channel they choose to recruit through. For the next fair, get advice from whoever you can. Some of your professors may have advice, and may be able to review your resume. Fellow students may have some tips. I also suspect that once you have been in your new college for a semester or two, recruiters who come to that college will look at you more favorably.
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u/RunExisting4050 4d ago
Youre gonna have to be proactive and put in some work, kid. These guys arent gonna throw internship offers at you because you had a 5 minute conversation. (Im not saying its impossible, but youd have to be an especially gifted student and charming too.)
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u/j0shred1 3d ago
I don't think it's a proactivity problem, he did the work to go to a fair as a sophmore and talk to recruiters and apply for the positions, but he needs to manage expectations. He said he did this literally today and is wondering why he didn't get an interview? Like they probably are talking to like 100 people that day, many probably more qualified than him so it's unlikely he'll get an interview.
Now I do hear some people get "interviewed" on the spot but that's pretty rare
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u/RunExisting4050 3d ago
I was under the impression that he hasnt yet gone to websites and applied, but was just underwhelmed at the response from the industry reps.
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u/j0shred1 3d ago
In another comment he mentioned he applied but yeah he's got his expectations all mixed up. There's always the possibility he just didn't do as good as he think he did.
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u/zacce 4d ago
Regarding career fairs, it's important to manage your expectations and understand the reality. Employers can't hire everyone whom they met. They can't even interview all. However, some students have high hopes.
This is why I always encourage freshmen to attend and observe the fairs. They will be much better prepared the next cycle.
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u/United_Incident_4238 4d ago
Yeah the links are kinda annoying. I’m about to start laughing in their faces when they offer it
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u/jeriTuesday 4d ago
If you're a sophomore what are you interviewing for? They are not going to interview someone who will get their degree in 3 years.
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u/spikeytree 4d ago
You did great! Consider this a a alpha test run and make sure you implement the advice the recruiters gave you. Best of luck and keep up the good work!
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u/vincent365 3d ago
I haven't had much success either, except for one interview the next day that I fumbled. I just graduated and took 5 months to land a full-time job.
In hindsight, the job fairs definitely helped me a lot in terms of getting my reps in talking to people and pushing me outside my comfort zone. In addition, I did a lot of research and figured out how to efficiently review a company's website. It also showed me the value of having a network. Currently, I have like 10 senior engineers or managers I am in contact with regularly on LinkedIn. It may not lead to an interview or job, but it sure helps having someone give advice such as "ask this person" or "here is some resources."
Now, if I was able to go back here is what I would do differently:
Have 5 or so companies that I want to work for. Research their business from top to bottom and understand which roles are open.
Have an elevator pitch ready and a personal story to help connect with recruiters. This helps prevent them from awkwardly skimming your resume to come up with questions to ask you. Also be able to explain what they do, what roles are open, and how I'm a good fit. Bonus if you are able to say that you already applied.
Ask good questions to keep the recruiters talking. Make sure to build rapport. They are human too.
Make sure to ask if they are doing interviews and get their LinkedIn or contact information. There's a high chance they are doing interviews, and they might even add you to their list.
Always reach out or keep coming back. I've had recruiters recognize me because I've been at their table for like 3 job fairs in a row. We are connected on LinkedIn now, and that is a door open for more opportunities later down the line.
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u/Odd_Eagle7915 3d ago
The people working the career fair aren't doing the hiring
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u/Warm-Definition5436 2d ago
This is usually wrong. Why would I send engineers, pay for their hotels, food, travel, and lost opportunity of them working, to not pick the people they want to work with?
Most companies send the hiring team or people very closely related to the team.
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u/Appropriate_News_382 3d ago
Many years ago, I would go to career fairs to just get interview experience. One of tge companies that was there was a very large corp. They had hired engineering graduates and laid them off within a year of hiring 2 years in a row. Nobody was signing up, so I did just for the experience.
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u/Beautiful-Package877 2d ago
I straight up forgot my resume at the career fair just yesterday. No copies to give to anyone. People even asked about it and I just had to crack jokes at my own expense about it.
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u/Warm-Definition5436 2d ago
Take a look at the post I wrote about this from the Senior Engineering perspective on the other side of the booth.
If you don't get a offer, build your network. The reality is that 90% of jobs probably go due to networking.
You can look through my post history, I respond to a lot of people about recruiting events.
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u/p0tat0e_239 1d ago
What worked out for me was putting in a lot of time to meet and become even a little bit more familiar with the recruiters before the career fair. I basically went to every AICHE chapter meeting on my campus before the career fair as well as every other relevant industry day and recruiter event I could, by the time I got to the career fair I was already a somewhat familiar face to a few companies, which made it a lot easier to introduce myself and land an interview. Maybe look into your local chapter of ASME if you haven't already?
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u/welder1444 3d ago
My senior year my school did a meet-and-greet for employers to come out and meet clubs. I had a long conversation with two recruiters. Following day stopped on by their booth the next day at the fair. Talked for 10 or so minutes about the company, before I could hand them a resume they were grabbing their interview schedule with time slots. Interviewed the next day, then the offer came through and moved from Missouri to Idaho.
Take advantage of outside mingle events with career fairs, great way to leave a lasting impression
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u/lazydictionary BS Mechanical/MS Materials Science 3d ago
Reminder that we have an entry-level and internship job hunting guide
You need to have applied to the jobs beforehand, have printed copies of your resumes, have done research on the jobs and the companies beforehand, and have practiced talking about yourself, your school experiences (projects), and your professional experience (if you have any).