If you have ever taken a sociology class, you know the phrase, “make the familiar, unfamiliar” all too well. On its own merit, it sounds like a good idea, but sometimes it just get downright weird. The idea of looking in on something that you do every day, and make it foreign is an odd concept but academically, it has bravado.

I had gone to the Ursinus College job fair yesterday and I pondered my experience afterwards and just like “making the familiar, unfamiliar,” it was a very unfamiliar feeling. Also I have to say, the idea of a job fair is just weird.

Just think about it, you walk in to this bank of people with tables and do what? You hand them a piece of paper with things that you have done and expect to get employment out of the deal. The concept just seems weird to me. Also the fact that you walk around, seemingly lost for two hours, looking at places who’s names don’t tell you what they do or what their about, is another oddity to me.

Another big thing for me is that the employers are set up in a small maze, there are rows and rows of employers, and you can tell nobody wants to be there. I just seems like a perfect storm of dismal. I think the worst part about the job fair is that it gets your hopes up. It makes you feel like there are so many jobs available and employers are willing to hire you, specifically. The reality is that is not the case at all. HR recruiters throw a smile on, grab a resume and pass it off to the next person. You are still just another paper in the pile, except this time you talked with a real human being.

This is all not to say that things might work out in the end, which is absolutely true. You could go to the job fair and find a great job and live happily ever after. I just think the odds of that are slim. I could just be the fact that I am nervous to graduate and go into the real world, who knows.

For those employers who attended the job fair, thank you. I am just really sorry I am a little bitter right now.