University of Pittsburgh Athletics
10/21/2016 12:00:00 AM | General
This year was my first experience at the CDPA Fall Career Fair and the Student Leadership Breakfast and I didn't have any expectations for myself--other than to avoid spilling ketchup on my new suit. The breakfast, held in Nordy's Place, was an excellent way to start off the morning by chatting with the employers and nibbling on breakfast fixings. Not only did the breakfast provide delicious scrambled eggs and an atmosphere for casual conversation, it also allowed us to meet the employers before the rest of the attendees met them, so I had plenty of time to butter them up with some biscuits and gravy. I was also able to interact with several student organizations and I spoke with Jesse Irwin, the host of Pitt Tonight. Jesse has done a great deal of work to make television production more predominant on this campus. I always find it exciting to see what other students do with their time while I'm running laps around the track.
Once the breakfast ended we headed up to the William Pitt Union Ballroom and I received my very own pad folio! Thank you CDPA, I am finally able to retire that terrible purple folder and look professional. Finally all the pieces had been put together and I looked straight off the business runway. I meandered around the tables trying to find a friendly face so I could practice my elevator pitch. A woman from Insight Global immediately struck a conversation with me and I just went along, completely forgetting my intentions with the elevator pitch. At the end of our casual conversation she asked if I would come in for an interview the next day and I just about dropped my new pad folio on the floor. I gave her my resume and walked away with ten times the confidence.
Suddenly I felt in control of the Career Fair, as if I could talk to whoever was of interest to me so I struck up conversations all over the place and shook a lot of hands--I am small but I have a stellar grip. After an hour of explaining what cross country is to five different employers I saw a giant bucket of Kit Kats, Reeses, and Hershey's chocolate and I went in for the bait. It wasn't until I was peeking my head into the bucket that I realized this setup was part of the Hershey's employment table. I figured my interest in the chocolate over the two employers may have already hindered my chances of receiving any interest from them, but I tried anyway. As we spoke I once again felt very comfortable and asked if they get paid in chocolate; they laughed and asked when I could come in for an interview. After my initial interest in free Kit Kats and my bad chocolate jokes, somehow I had scored another interview!
I realized after this conversation that I don't need to follow some step-by-step guide and instead my best attribute is to be as natural as possible, because everyone loves a good pun here and there. I also found that many employers responded well to forwardness and asking questions because this shows that you are considering the real-life implications of being in a position at their company. I walked out of the Career Fair with the same confidence that I always have with me on the track. Sometimes we make "getting a job" into a more stressful situation than it needs to be and the best way to interest a company is to just reveal your true character, even if that means taking the chocolate bait.
