Meeting employers
Opportunities to meet and speak with employers
Don't take for granted employers visiting campus:
- Opportunities for students to meet directly with employers on campus should never be taken for granted!
- In the larger employment economy, most organizations do not send representatives to college campuses; they can simply advertise internships and post-graduation jobs.
- Employers who do make campus visits are spending significant time, money, and human resources to do so, and they want return on that investment. They want to meet and speak with well-prepared students.
Take advantages of in-person contact opportunities:
- As a student seeking an internship or post-grad job, you don’t always have the opportunity for person-to-person contact in the job search process, until the interview stage.
- Opportunities to present yourself in person, instead of just being represented by your resume and cover letter, can help your cause!
- It can be difficult to stand out from the pack with your documents alone.
- Making a human connection is an opportunity.
- Don’t be intimidated!
- Do be prepared.
- Employer representatives are human beings too, and most of them have experience being in your shoes. Some of them may also be a bit nervous about their task of talking to many students.
Take initiative to expand your knowledge:
- You can also take initiative to meet employers who are not visiting campus; one method is the informational interview, in which you are interviewing an individual to gather information to help you make career-related decisions.
Learn about all opportunities to meet employers, understand the purpose of each, and prepare to take advantage of those that match your career interests and qualifications. If you are still exploring, meeting and hearing directly from employers can build your knowledge about career opportunities.
For any job fair or career fair you consider attending:
- Don’t just assume you’ll show up and wing it!
- Never walk up to a representative and say, “what does your company do?” Do introduce yourself and state why you are interested in that organization. And remember they are not all “companies.”
- Do research the details on the fair website and learn about the employers attending and their hiring needs. Know the dress code, and be ready.
- If you don’t feel ready to attend a career fair, check into the possibility of volunteering. Most fairs need many student volunteers. Having a purpose at the fair, such as helping employers carry their materials or delivering water to employer booths, can help you experience the environment without pressure, and enable you to see employers as human beings.
More about preparing for job fairs and career fairs.
- Career and Professional Development sponsors career fairs especially to diversify opportunities for students and employers to connect.
In addition to the CPD-sponsored fairs, there are more VT-affiliated career fairs which include:
- Fairs on the Virginia Tech campus, many of which are sponsored by colleges and academic departments.
- Fairs off-campus, sponsored by chapters of the VT Alumni Association.
External to VT are:
- Virtual fairs (many offered through CareerEco.com) which vastly expand your opportunities with access to employers who cannot incur the expense of traveling to many campuses. Many virtual fairs are career-field focused.
- Teaching fairs hosted by school systems and regions. To find these, search the school district(s) of interest to you.
For any fair, research the details on the fair website and learn about the employers attending and what they are seeking in terms of major, academic level, and type of job. Know the dress code, and research employers in advance. Never walk up to a representative and say, “what does your company do?” Do introduce yourself and state why you are interested in that organization.
If you don’t feel ready to attend a career fair, check into the possibility of volunteering. Most in-person fairs need many student volunteers. Having a purpose at the fair, such as helping employers carry their materials or delivering water to employer booths, can help you experience the environment without pressure, and enable you to see employers as human beings.
- The On-Campus Interview (OCI) Program is separate and different from interviews that might occur as part of a career fair, often the day after the fair.
- Through the On-Campus Interview (OCI) Program, hundreds of employers schedule interview dates that occur throughout many weeks of both fall and spring semester. Students apply for these interviews by submitting your resume in advance and waiting to learn if you are selected by the employer for an interview. The application and sign-up process is done in Handshake.
Employer Information sessions are typically held by an employer the evening prior to the OCI program interview date. In the info session, the employer shares pertinent information with students in advance of the interview. This enables students to be better prepared for the interview, and enables the employer to focus more interview time on each individual student, instead of repeating the same information over and over to individual individuals.
If you have an interview, do go to the information session if at all possible. You’ll have a better interview as a result.
If you applied for an interview, and were not selected, but believe you are competitive, go to the info session with a professional appearance. Afterward speak with the recruiter. If you make a good impression the employer might be able to find a way to interview you, or at least reconsider you as a candidate.
If you are exploring career options, info sessions are a great opportunity to hear about work life directly from an organizational rep.
Information sessions are listed in events in Handshake.
Information interviews are initiated by you. The purpose of an informational interview is to learn more about a career field, industry, or employment setting and other information that may help you in your journey of career exploration and preparation. Informational interviews are arranged by you, by making a request to a person to speak by phone or in person. The purpose of an informational interview is not the same as a job interview. In an informational interview, you take the lead, and your purpose is to learn, not ask for a job.
More about arranging informational interviews, etiquette, and types of questions to ask.