Benefits of Campus Recruiting Events (especially the virtual ones)
If you’re like me, you probably think that virtual career events are as useless as shoes with no soles. Howwwwwwwww ever, I have had to eat my words recently. And I like my words well seasoned atop some jasmine rice with a cute sauteed vegetable medley on the side. Because if Imma back pedal I’m gonna AT LEAST be well fed.
Recently I attended a virtual recruiting event with Deloitte aimed at tryna scoop up some GA Tech students. I ALMOST skipped out of it thinking that since it’s virtual it would be utterly useless. BUTTTT I found some value in it that I would have completely missed out on had I missed it.
So to set the scene, the event was panel style on Zoom. There were only between 25 and 35 people on the call. Of COURSE it was a sea of headshots and black out screen with names because folks don’t be putting their cameras on. I am also folks… So honestly this did kinda make me feel skeptical because at events I like to interact with folks and have opportunities to ask questions and network (even as an introvert). I was fearful that it would give a lecture type feel where we are talked to and sent on our way. However the structure was quite nice and allowed for some interaction:
A moment to talk about the company and what it does
The panelists were introduced and they talked about their roles in the company
They took some time to answer questions in the chat (there was only like 3 questions and I asked “For someone with a STEM background, what elements of our experiences should we highlight when pursuing a consulting career”)
There were two breakout sessions where the rooms focused on different topics. (I went to the one focusing on transitioning from STEM to consulting and the other focusing on DEI and work/life balance)
Here are the benefits that I got from this virtual event:
1. Learn the language of the industry
A big problem I was having was not understanding how to articulate my skills in a way that shows these people I can actually do the job. Learning what they actually find valuable can actually help me take a look over my skills and have a better understanding of what I bring to the table or where I need to fill in the gaps.
2. A better understanding of what the folks hiring are actually looking for STRAIGHT from the mouths of people that got into the company.
No BS, just straight to the point.
3. Based on the information they shared, I got a better understanding of the types of questions I need to ask people.
Learning what they find valuable in a potential candidate my questions can actual evolve from the frantic “HoW dO I gEt A jOb At ThE cOmPnAy” to a more refined “How do I show the value that my skill set can add to this role at this company”. Everybody knows what it is now. WE ARE LOOKING FOR JOBS. But I have learned that my questions need to be specific to the help I need. If I just ask “how do I get a job?”, I’d get a vague answer like “go apply to jobs on Indeed.” But if I know that a company wants someone that can solve a particular problem and has certain pain points, I can now go in with a “based on my resume, what experiences should I highlight that can show I can address the pain points that the company has.” I feel like I’m finally getting it! Like part of cracking the job hunting code is talking to the right people, but the REAL cracking is asking the RIGHT questions
4. I got exposed to the names of job titles AND a more conversational description of what they do in a way that is easy to understand
Because these job descriptions be ALLL OVER the place, it’s been hard for me to decipher where my skills fit into a job because some of these JDs be either too vague or overly complex in how they describe the job.
5. I got to learn where people started and understand their pathway into their role and how they were able to pivot (if needed).
I saw some people who had STEM backgrounds like me and were able to snag themselves a cute consulting role. Learning about the mindset that they had to develop and the parts of their experience that they needed to highlight was very useful to me. It helped demystify the path to getting over there. One dude who answered my question about going from STEM to consulting mentioned that people from STEM backgrounds have to be able to bridge the theoretical and applied parts of science. He went on to explain that as a consultant coming from this side of things, he understands the goals that matter and has the specific set of abilities that are highly technical and can apply them to the problem to help decision makers have all the info that they need to get to the solution to their problem. I got lots of great language from this. PHEW my new consulting-focused resume is about to be *chef’s kiss*.
6. Even though it was virtual, since it was a small group I was able to network with folks more than expected.
The breakout rooms were EVEN smaller (the first one I was in had 5 folk and the second one was just me and the panelist) so I got every single question of mine answered. Also since some questions were answered in the chat, I could just download the chat and have all that stuff for my records.
7. I also learned more about the structure of the company
I asked a question about what position to apply for and one guy let me know that people usually come in as a general analyst or consultant (and he mentioned since I have more experience, I should go for consultant) and then you just move around to projects that you like within the company. It was valuable to know what role to actually look for and that you just gotta get your foot in the door.
