Career Week

Just a few short weeks ago, Penn State hosted its annual Fall Career Week. This is an excellent opportunity for students of various disciplines to connect with employers from all over the country. Here is what some of the Engineering Ambassadors had to say about their experiences.

Anna Rish - Senior/Computer Science

This year at the career fair I had the unique experience of searching for an internship as a Master's Degree student. Because I am enrolled in a special 5-year Integrated Undergraduate/Graduate degree, I am technically a graduate student who has time for one more summer internship before graduation. While most companies did not treat me differently from other students, some companies have special programs aimed at both undergraduate and graduate students. I feel that some of my success at the career fair was due to my early appearance -- recruiters are still fresh (many fly in the night before and are battling fatigue throughout the day), and the booths are not too crowded yet. I was able to talk to all 5 of the companies that I was interested in (IBM, Cisco, Microsoft, Intel, and National Instruments), as well as another company called iDirect which actually pulled me into its booth to talk about my experiences as a computer science student. Out of this I was able to interview with 4/5 of the companies that were doing on-campus interviews. One company reviews resumes and then returns for interviews in October. Many companies also give applicants final decisions by the end of October -- so hopefully I'll my summer plans in order in the next few weeks!

AJ Logan - Senior/Mechanical Engineering

I had a little bit of a different career fair experience. I got to work as a recruiter for the entire day on Thursday, for the technical full time. I have signed a contract with a company, Schlumberger, and the head recruiter asked me to come along to the career fair to help out and take resumes from students and talk about the company and what I did at my internship. It was really cool, because I got to see the other side of the booth and talk to the students about my favorite topic, our company! I also got to meet 7 new Schlumberger employees who were also helping out, all of which were great people who held different positions within the company. It was interesting talking to the students as well and trying to judge whether they would fit into a position at Schlumberger, which taught me a little more about how students can do a better job of talking to recruiters. I found that excitement and personality are key. Many students were quiet or seemed shy, but they needed to be enthusiastic about what they wanted to do in life, if not then it seemed as though they didn't really want to work for us. Overall, they day was very fun and exciting and we even found some good candidates for jobs within the company.

Jacki Guillemette - Junior/Mechanical Engineering

Career week can be a very busy time with information sessions, career fair, interviews, and company dinners. This past career week, I had the opportunity to attend the HUGE career fair that Penn State offers with hundreds of companies. I got to speak with representatives from all the companies that I was interested in and ended up with 4 interviews as well as an invitation to a dinner with one of the companies and other intern applicants. Interviews can be a little intimidating but as long as you are prepared for possible questions they could ask (questions about previous group projects, problems you had to deal with, how you handle your work load, etc.) and have some confidence, you are all set! The dinner I was invited to was great too because I got to learn more about the one company in a more casual setting. In a few weeks I should find out whether I got an internship or not so I have my fingers crossed!

Megumi Woltermann - Junior/Chemical Engineering

Penn state does a great job with the career fair. For one day, I get access to over a hundred employers. I applied to over 10 internships, and I met with a lot of great companies. A lot of companies will be interviewing within the next couple of weeks, so hopefully I impressed them enough to get an interview. I got a call back from P&G to go out to dinner the same day as the career fair. They took me out to The Tavern, and I got to know some of the recruiters a little better. I will know in a couple weeks if I will get an interview. Over the years, I have had a really good experience with the career fair. The career fair has given me the opportunity to meet and learn about different companies in such a short amount of time.