It’s almost mid-semester now, and we’re getting back in to the swing of things here at RPI. Of course, for a lot of us, that means thinking about what we’re going to do when we leave RPI. You know the drill. Dress up, sober up, and suck up for that chance at getting an interview. You have to love those Saturday mornings when you wake up for the career fair at 10 am and you’ve only been asleep for three hours. Regardless of how each of us handled the fair this year, I can’t help but worry over my impending graduation. What will I do? Where will I work? How much will I make? It’s all a bit intimidating to think about.
Being okay with everything really comes down to a few preparatory things. First, be open to change. No matter where you end up, it won’t be exactly where you want to be. Sure, you may stay in Troy, but you won’t be a student. You may even be a student, but you’ll be a graduate student. The point is that things are going to change—be ready to take the changes as they come.
My second suggestion is to do everything you can now to ensure what happens later is the best it can be. If you’re hitting senior year (like me) without having gone on co-op, you won’t be as well off as many of your competitors. If you’re coming into senior year with a GPA that isn’t representative of you, it is going to hurt you. Be careful with your academics—you may think that it is B.S., but it will make or break you in the interview.
Lastly, along the lines of preparation again: buy a suit, learn how to tie a tie, learn how to iron a shirt, cut your hair (or at least wash it), and learn some etiquette. You’re going to need some nice clothes for presentations anyway, so you may as well buy a few now while you still have a sense of style. I can’t tell you how many people I saw walking into the career fair with the wrong knot in their tie, all of the buttons on their 16 button suit buttoned, greasy hair, stains on their shirt, and a black belt with brown shoes. I firmly believe that appearance shouldn’t be taken into consideration when hiring for jobs, but the cold hard truth is that it is.
Hopefully this didn’t come off as imposing, but I did want to offer my thoughts on getting hired. Just be ready and everything will happen smoothly. I extend my best wishes to all of you during this interview season! Happy job-hunting.
