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Job search isn’t easy

Posted on 05. Oct, 2005 posted by Bill in Employment News

Job search isn’t easy

I need a job. Not just any job, but an actual career. The “Will Work 4 Pennies” sign just won’t cut it anymore.

After this year, I will be done with college. My education, some 17 years in the making, will finally be complete. The worst part of it is that something called the real world awaits.
Word on the street is that the real world sucks. You didn’t hear it from me, but life after college isn’t fun. You can forget about T-shirts, backpacks and Buck Night; things like suits, briefcases and business meetings will become all too familiar.
I’m not even sure what I want to eat for dinner, let alone know what my career will be for the rest of my life.

And then it flashed before my eyes: A sign for the Chico State Career Fair. If you can’t find a career at something called a career fair, you might want to get a refund on your education. That would be like leaving the “Everyone Wins a Prize” booth without a prize.

The career fair attracted 87 recruiters eager to give advice and perhaps hand out jobs to young, energetic and qualified college students Thursday. The fair was a useful tool for students looking for jobs. It’s not very often that employers looking to hire you come to you.
Figuring it was a great tool to get ideas about career opportunities, I set out to find a job.
Upon entering the Bell Memorial Union Auditorium, things went foul. Everyone was wearing suits and ties. I had on shorts and sandals.
The diversity of the companies in attendance overwhelmed me. From Abercrombie & Fitch to Wells Fargo, there was a job opportunity for everyone. Apparently everyone but me.
I approached recruiters from Enterprise Rent-A-Car, Old Navy and Walgreens to see about the chances of getting hired. To my dismay, no one was particularly impressed with my resume. Most of the conversations ended something like, “I’m sorry, Mr. Raber, but selling Girl Scout cookies and building sweet sand castles isn’t exactly the experience we were looking for.”
What, like renting cars to tourists is brain surgery?
Undeterred, I continued through the fair to find a career. It looked liked a lot of students were having productive conversations with possible employers. For a second I became discouraged, but then my purpose for attending this fair became clear.
Random crap. Recruiters love to give away random crap. And no one loves getting random crap more than me.
If you are ever bored or hungry, I suggest attending one of these fairs. It is like Christmas and Halloween combined. Between the flashing pens, mini footballs, playing cards, and tubs of Tootsie-pops and Snickers, you will be occupied and full for hours.
This is my new professional calling — collecting random crap and selling it for a profit. Brilliant.
I left the career fair with a stomachache and positive feelings about my future job as a career-fair-crap salesman.
The real world will have to be put on hold just a little longer. There are way too many other college career fairs left for me to attend.
And if that doesn’t pan out, at least I still have my trusty “Will Work 4 Pennies” sign.

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Tags: Employment News