It's that time of the school year again--exams are starting to happen, papers are getting turned in, the weather is starting to get cooler, and 5482349 emails from the career center are flooding your inbox about the CAREER FAIR. The best night of the semester when hundreds of students cram into an area that is far too small, far too hot, and far too crowded. Yet, you still attend with a twinkle in your eye and resume in your hand to make the best impression possible on your favorite companies. Most of us have been there and most of us have gone through these unavoidable feelings while attending a career fair
1. When you ask your friends or classmates (especially upperclassmen) if they'll be joining you at the career fair at some point and find out that you're most likely going to have to fly solo on this one.
2. Suiting up for the first time of the year has everyone pumped to show off their professionalism to their classmates, professors, and potential employers.
3. The long walk to the career fair has your heart pounding, nerves flying, and palms sweating to get in there and make the best impression possible.
4. As a female stepping to the chaos, you are immediately overwhelmed by the male presence in the business world--dominating every table as an employer and student.
5. It's immediately way too hot inside and you're immediately over it.
6. You and all your friends are too scared to make the first move, so you fight each other to see who has the make the first move and actually talk to a representative.
7. Despite having your resume in your portfolio and business cards at your disposal, you really aren't sure what to say to these people anyways.
8. You make your first attempt to make an impression and step out of your comfort zone, and even though it wasn't THAT bad, you feel as though you made a complete fool out of yourself and immediately regret coming.
9. That super annoying, insanely smart, overachieving suck up from your hardest class cuts you off when you're getting ready to approach the company you came to the whole career for and you feel like you no longer have a chance in the world at getting employed by them.
10. Companies from outside of your major try and recruit you to come to your table and you are way too overwhelmed to calmly deal with responding to them.
11. You finally work up the courage to approach your favorite company, and really the only reason you dragged yourself to this place, and pretend to hide your nerves as best as possible as a representative starts a conversation with you.
12. Finally, FINALLY! You have a successful conversation with a potential employer, they take your resume, and leave you by saying "We look forward to hearing from you!" You've done it, you've made it, you've had some success at the career fair!
13. You meet up with your friends after walking aimlessly around the tables and pretending like you want to talk to more people and discover that they're finally ready to leave, too!
14. You walk, maybe RUN depending on your experience, out of the career fair, all the way back to your dorm and immediately change back into sweatpants and a t-shirt, as if nothing had happened in the past couple of hours.
15.You did it. You networked. You acted like a big kid. This only means one thing:
