Job Hunting Through Networking
Hey Everyone!!
So two weeks ago I went to the Life Sciences Career Fair. I talked to a few companies and gave out some resumes. It was a pretty good event, I had some good conversations with employers but I wasn’t sure if it would come to anything.
One company I spoke with informed me that they had already hired their interns in the fall. Rather than just leave, I decided to ask about their full time hiring process (I’m going to be a graduate come next year – yikes!). We talked about what I am interested, where I see myself in the future and we really got along well.
As we were talking, she took a closer look at my resume. She saw I had experience with wastewater treatment, and her eyes lit up. She told me that they were looking for help on their wastewater treatment system, so she would pass my resume off to that department. I thanked her, got her contact information, and went on my way. I didn’t thing anything of it.
A week later, she emailed me telling me that the department liked my resume and wanted me to come onsite for an interview! An interview? What! I didn’t even apply for a job. Was there even a job for me there? I figured I would take the interview because it was a great chance to network with the company, if nothing else. It was an exploratory interview – so I wasn’t really interviewing for a specific job, I would be interviewing for a chance to create a job. Which was pretty exciting.
I went to the interview and then a few days later they offered me the job! A very interesting, nontraditional story for job hunting.
So bottom line, career fairs are a great place to network! Know your experiences and really try to sell them to employers. Even if the company doesn’t have the specific job you want open, that doesn’t mean there isn’t a job there. Many job openings are not even posted online. So make those connections, know what you want, and know what you have. Because you never know who your going to talk to, what they are going to need, and how they could effect your career path for the future.
<3 Gianna
