A week at the UP Job Fair

In college, I actually enjoyed the deathly dull task of manning booths for our org. Others would avoid getting assigned to a shift like they would going to the dentist or attending Theo class, but I never minded taking on an extra shift or 2. I don't know how sitting behind a table waiting for people to come up to you can be fun, but I liked it, from interviewing member applicants to selling movie premiere tickets.

So when our company joined the UP Job Fair this year, I didn't complain when my bosses (i.e. my folks) appointed me to man our booth during the week-long event. Of course since I was needed at the office also, I couldn't afford to take on whole-day shifts for the entire week, so Hanks subbed for me when needed. By the middle of the first day of the job fair, I was relieved that I wouldn't be sticking around all 5 days because I was booooored out of my miiiiind. Foot traffic was disappointing, especially since UP is such a huge campus with a huge population. Company talks given by the major sponsors were annoying at best, inane at worst. And there were absolutely no cute guys around to ogle. It was a good thing I had the foresight to bring a book (Gregory Maguire's Son of a Witch, sequel to Wicked) and my Palm (nothing like a game of Bejeweled to help me zone out).

I also drew up a mental list of advice to graduating students applying for their first jobs:

• Kids, if you're attending a job fair, it's common practice to be armed with many, many copies of your resume for distribution. And please, paste your photos beforehand. It shows poor preparation when you're smearing glue on the back of a 2x2 right before you hand it to a prospective employer.
• Ask questions about the company, fer cryin' out loud! The HR people manning the booths aren't automatons sent to collect your resumes. They're supposed to be answering any questions you have about the job openings, the nature of the work required and the company itself. If you get called for an interview and know diddly-squat about the company you're applying for, then you're not going to impress anyone.
  
• Don't listen to speakers from big companies who make it sound like they know everything there is to finding a job. Chances are those same big companies will be the ones turning you down and flushing your career hopes down the corporate toilet. There just aren't enough skyscrapers in Makati to accommodate all of you, my dears.
  
• When the company representative speaks to you in straight English and you go "huh? ano ulit?", you lose major pogi points.
  
• Sure, you just came from a 3-hour exam, you walked from Palma Hall to the Bahay ng Alumni, and it's raining cats and dogs. But you're not going to have time to explain your disheveled appearance to the person taking your resume and giving your sorry ass a once-over. (P.S. If you're applying for a garments/fashion company and you show up in a ratty t-shirt and ill-fitting jeans, don't get your hopes up that they'll be calling anytime soon.)
• You are in no position to ask about a managerial level job opening when you have zero work experience, and your diploma hasn't even been printed yet.
• Beggars can't be choosers. You're on that side of the booth, you don't get to dictate jack.

One last thought prompted by my week at the job fair: I am very, very appreciative of Ateneo's Placement Office for guiding us through the whole harrowing fresh-grad job-hunting experience. They taught us how to write sensible resumes, how to attend job fairs (bringing stacks of resumes with pre-pasted ID photos), and how to talk to company HR officers. They really helped us land good jobs with major companies, edging out competition from other schools. Sometimes, being spoiled has its benefits.