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Beyond the Pitch: Communicating Your Engineering Skills at Career Fairs
60 Plays10 days ago
In the season 3 premiere of Communication Mechanics, podcast host Dr. Jill Fennell is joined by Laura Garcia, Director of Undergraduate Career Education at Georgia Tech. Together they discuss navigating different aspects of Career Fairs from a communication standpoint, detailing information to help students before, during, and after their career fair experience.
Notes and Timestamps:
- 00:43 Introduction to Topic and Guest
- 01:51 How Students should prepare for the career fair
- 03:44 Details for students to include beyond the basics at fairs
- 09:07 How do students research different communication norms in different industries
- 09:59 Mapping out career fair day
- 11:41 The balance between authenticity and tailoring
- 12:51 What to know about Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) and Scorecards
- 16:06 The importance of networking skills and non technical skillsets
- 22:56 Building Rapport quickly at the Career Fair
- 26:37 Importance of Attire and Dress
- 29:11 Tracking accomplishments, experiences, and self-reflection
- 31:14 Addressing Failure and the STAR method
- 34:57 Followup after the career fair and the importance of thank yous
- 36:48 Prepping for followup and making notes post conversation with recruiters
- 38:07 Timeline between fair and interviews
- 40:06 Underrated communication tips and importance of resources
- 41:10 Wrap up and access to support and workshops
A transcript of this episode is available here.
Podcast edited by Lee Hibbard.
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Transcript
Introduction to Season 3: Communication in Professional Growth
00:00:11
Speaker
Welcome to season three of communication mechanics. I'm Jill Fennell, web chair and communication skills at the Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering. And this season is all about communication across professional growth, how engineers build skills to navigate job fairs, public speaking, leadership, internship, and providing useful feedback.
00:00:32
Speaker
Let's get started.
Effective Communication at Career Fairs: Focus and Responsiveness
00:00:44
Speaker
first episode is season three. This episode is Beyond the Pitch, communicating your engineering skills at the career fair. I'm Jill Fennell, your host as usual.
00:00:55
Speaker
And I'm really interested about this topic today because it requires students to do probably something that might be the hardest part that we try to teach students to do in this communication program, which is to be responsive.
00:01:09
Speaker
We talk a lot about being appropriate and how you can plan appropriate communication based on what you know. But being responsive is a lot more difficult because you have to respond in the situation.
00:01:20
Speaker
So we're going to get into
Guest Introduction: Laura Garcia on Career Development
00:01:21
Speaker
that today. But first, let me introduce our guest, Laura Garcia. who has worked in collegiate career services for over 15 years and serves as the Director of Career Education in the Georgia Tech Career Center. Laura works with key stakeholders to advise undergraduate students in enhancing their career and professional development, identifying career paths, and securing internships and or co-ops with the goal of finding career success upon graduation.
00:01:47
Speaker
Welcome, Laura. Thank you. It's pleasure being here.
Preparing for Career Fairs: Tips and Tools
00:01:51
Speaker
In this episode, we're going to cover a lot of different things. We'll talk a little bit about resume or hooter conversations, body language, follow-ups, all through the lens of communication.
00:02:01
Speaker
I've structured our conversation today by timeline. So let's dive in Can you tell us a little bit about how students should prepare for the career fair, just in general? Because usually I think about students, especially the ASEE career fair that most of our mechanical engineering students here go to.
00:02:20
Speaker
as something a lot of seniors. So really I should be preparing far beyond two plus weeks out, right? Ideally, ideally. um If they know the list of employers who are coming and many of the career fairs that are out there at Georgia Tech, or even if you went to community career fairs, professional career fairs, they'll publish a list in advance. So the more that you spend some time on the front end understanding who's there, what are they posting.
00:02:47
Speaker
at Georgia Tech, we've got an online job board called CareerBuzz where all co-ops and internships should be listed for the career fair. Some employers will slip through the cracks, so check their company job boards as well.
00:02:58
Speaker
So learning more about who will be there and what they're hiring for is step
Strategic Introductions at Career Fairs
00:03:02
Speaker
one. If you go to the Career Center website, which is career.gatech.edu, scroll down the page a little bit, you'll see an icon that says Career Buzz, and you just log in with your GT credentials.
00:03:13
Speaker
Okay, great. And they have access to that for a year after graduation as well? In perpetuity. so alumni i have access to CareerBuzz. There's also a great platform called GT Connect.
00:03:24
Speaker
The slight difference between that is that alumni are sharing job opportunities specifically with alumni versus CareerBuzz will have lots of different community members and employers across the U.S. and beyond who will post positions.
00:03:38
Speaker
Largely, it's more towards that entry-level market, mid-market, but there are alumni postings there as well. What detail should students think about including in their conversations at career fairs beyond just their name, major, and graduation date?
00:03:52
Speaker
As I mentioned earlier, ideally two weeks or before, you'll know who's actually coming to the career fair. What are they hiring for? So when you're introducing yourself, absolutely name, major, when you're graduating, that's all pertinent information that who you're talking to.
00:04:06
Speaker
But the more you know about your audience, the better the response you can give. You can be strategic with dropping in information about relevant technical skill sets or you're reading through job descriptions, you see that they're looking for strong leadership, teamwork.
Building Rapport and Authentic Connections
00:04:20
Speaker
These are specific examples from your background that you can thread in your introduction and then tie it together at the end of your pitch of due to my student involvement. A, if you had an internship or co-op before, say if you're looking for a full-time role, you could drop that in.
00:04:36
Speaker
Part-time work, study abroad. There are many different types of experiences you can weave into your introduction, but it's about being strategic. So the way that I would introduce myself to one employer, if they're hiring for something different than say employer B, I would change my introduction to be more relevant to my audience.
00:04:54
Speaker
Would you say that that's something that students are often missing from their interest currently? Absolutely. So I also think students, when I observe them at career fairs, they immediately launch into the pitch.
00:05:06
Speaker
There's not that rapport building piece of, you know, hello, I'm Laura. Allow the recruiter to enter reintroduce themselves. Right. This jumps into pure transaction, no human element. Exactly. It's just immediately launching into,
00:05:20
Speaker
a pitch, if you will, versus, hello, how are you? nice to meet you today. Let me introduce myself and tell a little bit about the background. So at times it can feel a little bit artificial where it's just a script that you've memorized and then the end with, and here's my last skill set.
00:05:38
Speaker
So it doesn't give an opportunity for the recruiter to figure out exactly how to steer the conversation. So why are you there? So try and tie in why you're excited to talk to them today.
Networking's Role in Career Longevity
00:05:48
Speaker
If you did your research and said,
00:05:50
Speaker
yeah And I was so excited to see your job opportunity on CareerBuzz. Would love to hear more about that, as well as other opportunities that could be but good fit for my background. Right.
00:06:01
Speaker
Let's back up a second, because I feel like undergraduate students are probably often told, well, just get your elevator pitch down and that's all you need. Why is that not a good idea for a career fair?
00:06:14
Speaker
You know, i had a great conversation not long ago with a Fortune 100 company who Many of the students probably listening to this podcast wear their brands right now as they're listening.
00:06:25
Speaker
And what he shared with me is that, you know, certainly I want to hear the relevant aspects of your background based on what I'm hiring for, but I'm also looking for authenticity. There are many folks that could be qualified for the same role.
00:06:36
Speaker
But, you know, making that connection, developing that rapport, showing interest, showing passion, it may not be, you know, it doesn't have to be solely passionate about that particular company or project, but just spark interest, stand out, show something a little bit different about yourself. Those are all good things that I have heard from employers.
00:06:57
Speaker
Right. At the end of the day, they're looking to hire a colleague. Yes. So you might think, you know, Am i portraying myself to be the kind of person that someone might want to have a two-minute conversation at the microwave line every weekday for the next 30 years?
00:07:13
Speaker
Exactly. Exactly. one piece of feedback that I've heard from employers is that Georgia Tech students are brilliant when it comes to the technical interviews. And once they get into the room, they do really well with their star stories or other stories.
00:07:26
Speaker
you know interview question responses, but that rapport building piece should not be overlooked. Small talk is critical. So asking how they are that day or, oh, did you fly in for the career fair today?
00:07:39
Speaker
how was your trip in? you know Little things like that make you stand out and it feels less robotic or transactional. Right. Because when someone just comes and ejects their pitch at you,
00:07:51
Speaker
and that is happening to you many times a day, it can kind of all become a wash.
Understanding Industry Communication Norms
00:07:56
Speaker
They're talking at you and not with you. And i think what we want our students to do is to have the facility with their skills, with their resume, to actually be able to have a conversation and talk with the recruiters.
00:08:11
Speaker
Exactly. i think it's important to reflect on what it's like to be in that recruiter's shoes. If you can imagine on their end, they've got a long line of students that are excited to talk to them, want to learn about their opportunities.
00:08:24
Speaker
So they're going to have potentially the same conversation 50 times. That can get pretty exhausting. there are any students who have gone through rush-like processes, whether it's a fraternity or sorority, can kind of understand that experience of,
00:08:38
Speaker
trying to maintain a similar conversation over and over. So little things can make a big difference and they can stand out to where when an employer leaves that particular event and they're reflecting on who they met, they can say, oh wow, I remember this student. We have this really unique conversation. They were so prepared. They talked about something that they knew that I do in this respective role in my particular company.
00:09:04
Speaker
That's the type of thing that they want to hear. How do students research communication norms in different industries? You know, that's a great question, and sometimes it's hard to find online.
00:09:16
Speaker
It really comes down to starting early, ideally in your career at Georgia Tech, as any professional. If you think you want to work in a particular industry or a particular job function,
00:09:27
Speaker
Start talking to people in that perspective field. The more that you get exposed to those individuals, the more that you can kind of pick on things, pick up on things that aren't necessarily available online.
00:09:40
Speaker
So you can observe. Also, it's okay to ask. It's okay to try to get a sense of like, what are the expectations in this workplace? You know, how do you do A, B, or C?
00:09:51
Speaker
The more that you talk to you different individuals, you'll start picking up on themes and start picking up on those norms.
Mapping Out Career Fair Strategy
00:09:57
Speaker
Okay, great. Thinking about, you know, being two weeks out, you're going on CareerBuzz, you're figuring out who's going to be at the career fair, trying to research, see what you can figure out about them.
00:10:08
Speaker
Do you recommend that students actually sort of map out what their day is going to be like? I do. i would personally recommend rank ordering their preference of who they're going to speak with because there a lot of factors you can't predict when you actually get to the career fair.
00:10:25
Speaker
Your number one person may have a massive line where, know, maybe you have to go to class and then come back, or maybe I should start with my third or fourth choice so I warm up.
00:10:35
Speaker
feel more comfortable introducing myself and then going back to him my number one organization. So coming in really thinking through if you are able to get a map of the actual layout of the event, that's also ideal. So you can kind of strategize, you know, here are two to three companies that were here.
00:10:53
Speaker
Maybe I can start here before going elsewhere. Some of these events can be rather large, but yes, rank ordering who you want to speak with. So that way you're maximizing your time is my main recommendation.
00:11:05
Speaker
Okay, and then perhaps making some notes about the particulars of each position that those companies are hiring for. Absolutely, and what I tell students is utilize your time wisely. I mean, an employer doesn't expect that you know a massive amount about their particular company or the job function. That's the purpose of the career fair.
00:11:27
Speaker
But when you go up and you introduce yourself, including a little nugget, little kernel of why you're talking to them and why you're interested in them, That's what's going to make you stand out.
00:11:37
Speaker
So those are just a couple of things that come to mind.
Navigating Applicant Tracking Systems and Networking
00:11:40
Speaker
All right. What's the difference between authenticity and tailoring? How can students prepare in a way that they aren't merely just giving the scripted elevator pitch, but instead that they can be responsive in their conversation with the recruiter?
00:11:55
Speaker
So authenticity to me can mean many different things. So authenticity could be you're so excited to talk to that employer because you're very passionate about the work that they do, the product that they create, the services that they provide.
00:12:09
Speaker
But another form of authenticity can be curiosity. You know, i saw that you're doing this really interesting thing. Can you tell me more about it? That can be a good way for folks to demonstrate authenticity, demonstrate their research, build that rapport.
00:12:23
Speaker
So with authenticity, it's not that you need to say what you think people want to hear. It's okay to be curious. It's okay to not be sure if you want to work for that employer.
00:12:34
Speaker
That's where I would take more of that authenticity, that curious route versus, you know, really pitching and being over the top about how much you love their product or service when it may not really be the truth.
00:12:46
Speaker
Right. It's great to have questions prepared to ask. Exactly. One last question for this preparation phase. What do students need to know about how applicant tracking systems work or how recruiters might use scorecards at the fair?
00:13:01
Speaker
So let's start out with applicant tracking systems. You can Google it. So most of your Fortune 500 companies have something called an applicant tracking system, which there are a lot of different types that are out there.
00:13:13
Speaker
But think of it as Google-like technology, where these systems will essentially filter resumes based on keywords, skills, qualifications for the position. um So referencing another Fortune 500 company that I interacted with before,
00:13:29
Speaker
We were at an AI conference and they were talking about how they leverage AI in the job search and managing applications and whatnot. And I said, you know, I've worked at five universities now. So many students want to be the point zero zero five percent that actually gets selected by you.
00:13:44
Speaker
How do they beat the ATS? You know, and the advice that he shared with me was talk to me at the career fair, reach out to me on LinkedIn, network with me, talk to people at my organization. That's a way to get noticed.
00:13:57
Speaker
But with the ATS, you always have to make sure that you are a aware of it and how it could filter out your resume. You do need to tailor your document for each position to which you are applying because there are systems that may prevent a human from ever seeing them.
00:14:13
Speaker
So for this particular company that I'm talking about, have they had thousands of applications for one role. There is not enough hours in a day for someone to reasonably go through it. So you have to understand how systems can work against you right and how to overcome that and still maintain that human element. You have a lot more control than you think you do in the job search. You don't need to wait for the job posting. it is a job search strategy to proactively reach before a job posting is posted.
00:14:41
Speaker
Now to your second part about scorecards.
Importance of Networking for Career Advancement
00:14:44
Speaker
So as you're at the career fair, there are many things happening in the background that you may not be aware of. So for employers that are there, you know, maybe you go up, you do your pitch, you're making this great connection, that's great.
00:14:56
Speaker
When you leave, oftentimes you may observe some things where the employer may write things on the back of your resume. When you go up to some booths, they may ask you to enter in your information.
00:15:06
Speaker
There are sometimes scoring systems where they'll say, you know, based on specific factors, conversation they'll rate you so that's why i think that score curd piece is also important to be aware of.
00:15:19
Speaker
So one company, I thought it was rather brilliant, they said on the back end, they would essentially count the number of times that students would go to their info session, talk to them at career fair, you know did some sort of event or interaction with them.
00:15:33
Speaker
Because when they had 500 applications for five roles, they prioritized the people that showed that motivation and initiative. So my advice to students is any opportunity that you have on campus to interact with an employer, to get that face time in, even if they're presenting to a class, these little things can make a difference.
00:15:53
Speaker
Many folks secure positions in a lot of different ways. You may not know if it's a career fair, maybe it's an informational interview, something else, but the more that you do, the more you're increasing your chances of getting hired.
Essential Skills for Career Growth
00:16:06
Speaker
think you brought up a really important term here, which is networking.
00:16:13
Speaker
Engineers do science. Why do they need to have a networking skill? So networking is not only a skill that you will, you know, really leverage for that first entry level role. It's something that will carry you throughout your career.
00:16:29
Speaker
So your first position, yes, you may absolutely you know secure it through a career fair. However, there are career fairs for the rest of your job search journey. Many times folks will get that next role by just being known, performing well on the job, developing relationships.
00:16:46
Speaker
The reality of the job search is that there are many folks that could do the same job. But that doesn't mean that everybody gets along or creates a healthy work environment. in which other folks want to work with you or you know progress the work, the product, whatever it is you're working on faster.
00:17:04
Speaker
So that human element is so critical. That's the type of thing that may result in you, you know ultimately ascending into various leadership roles. So networking, building relationships, putting yourself out there.
The Value of Soft Skills in Career Success
00:17:18
Speaker
as ah referenced earlier with multiple Fortune 500 companies that I've worked with over the years, they can choose a lot of different people. You can train technical skills. You can train certain skill sets.
00:17:31
Speaker
You can't train a personality. You can't train teamwork or leadership or other aspects. So that's why it's so critical to network to make sure you get notice out of the hundreds, if not thousands of applications for some of the companies that Georgia Tech students want to work for.
00:17:47
Speaker
I have a cousin and I have a friend who a who are technical recruiters and one of the things that they always say or both of them have said is that If they have the degree, they're not really worried about their technical skill. It's everything else that they're really assessing them on.
00:18:03
Speaker
I completely agree. I've heard the same thing. And what's interesting to me is so many students will want to practice the technical component. And my advice back is you need to do it with a colleague, and another student.
00:18:17
Speaker
You know, that's something you should have been learning through your courses. I can't train you on your coursework. You know, go back, maybe talk to your professors during office hours, go back and refresh previous content if you need to.
00:18:30
Speaker
But once you get in there, ideally you do well in the technical interview. I've worked with some students who were hired by top companies who kind of flubbed it a little bit, whether it was the case interview or technical.
00:18:42
Speaker
but they talked about how they would overcome it or what information they would seek out to solve you know that particular technical problem that's posed. But from recruiters, what I'm hearing at Georgia Tech is that your students are great, they are brilliant, they can do so many different things. And if they don't have this one specific thing that I need, I can train them.
00:19:03
Speaker
Where they need to work a little bit more are those connecting sort of skills, you know the behavioral interview questions, being able to be a storyteller, to demonstrate your value.
00:19:15
Speaker
Because you know if you look at what employers are looking for, there you can go out and Google it. NACE stands for the National Association of Colleges and Employers.
00:19:26
Speaker
They have done years and years of research asking employers beyond GPA Beyond the academic major of study, what are the skills or qualities you're seeking from future hires?
00:19:37
Speaker
And they're what some people call soft skills, but I call essential skills. Right.
Communication Skills and Career Promotions
00:19:42
Speaker
So teamwork, communication, these projects that you're doing in class where you manage conflicts.
00:19:49
Speaker
These are all specifically designed at Georgia Tech to give you these life essential skill sets that you need to be successful in your job. So these are all important things beyond just the technical.
00:20:00
Speaker
When I'm teaching here at the Woodruff School, I often tell students that you were engineering your degree with the Woodruff School, that's what's going to get you hired, but you're going to get promoted based on your communication.
00:20:14
Speaker
And I know that might seem a little self-serving because I run the communication program here, but I think that's absolutely true. You are absolutely correct because you've got to think about if you want to be CEO,
00:20:26
Speaker
CTO or even just a director anywhere in the hierarchy. A manager. Exactly. it's Somewhere beyond the bottom level. Exactly. and some folks will aspire that, some will not. Yeah, that's fine. But when you think about the good leaders, the good managers, they can communicate effectively, not only in written communication, effective emails.
00:20:47
Speaker
They'll be inspirational. They'll talk to their team. They'll engage in public speaking. So any opportunity that you have at Georgia Tech through your classes to take technical communication, to present in front of a class, record yourself, there's a great platform called a Big Interview. You can access it through the Career Center website. So career.gayotech.edu, you'll see a tab that says Career Education.
00:21:12
Speaker
And under that, there's something called Career Tools. You can record yourself doing giving interview responses through Big Interview. You can send it to other people. It's got a great AI feature both for interviews as well as resume AI. So you can paste in a job description, paste in your resume.
00:21:31
Speaker
Essentially what it does is when you paste in your job description and then you paste in your resume, it compares it. It was built off of multiple ATS systems and will point out any sections that are potentially missing and it ranks you with You are at the gold standard, you're at the silver standard or bronze standard of the likelihood to essentially pass the first cut. So recommend everybody do that.
00:21:55
Speaker
And for the big interview piece, that's the video component, the interview component. There's another ai feature that will count the number of ums, lights, and will track your eye movement.
00:22:06
Speaker
So these tools that you have and what you're gaining through your classroom, you need to utilize and practice. I call it building your mental muscles. It is a lifelong skill set that can help you to be successful, whether you go far from leadership or just want to be very effective in your current role.
00:22:24
Speaker
And are these free resources or can they access them through Georgia Tech? They are free during your time at Georgia Tech. So I do recommend for students to take advantage of them. It is not accessible to alumni.
00:22:35
Speaker
So utilize your time wisely and try not to get out of those English courses or some of these are writing courses where you go what's the point of this? Even if the topic has nothing to do with your future career, it's going back to that concept, build your mental muscles because these are the muscles that you will leverage to really be successful in your future career.
Building Rapport at Career Fairs: Practical Tips
00:22:56
Speaker
Moving on to in the moment at the career fair, what's your advice for how students can build rapport quickly, maybe even just while waiting in line? So I think showing enthusiasm, little things like smiling, nodding as someone's talking. These are little body language cues that you can give that show that you're excited.
00:23:18
Speaker
You also want to be aware of the fact that you are being observed throughout this process. So even if you're the second or third person in line, if you're looking impatient, you're sighing, you know, again, that can also communicate a message that you're impatient, you're not excited to be there, excited for the conversation.
00:23:36
Speaker
So I think it's important to think about, you know, what am I communicating and making sure I'm engaged? Are you scrolling through your phone the whole time and looking like you're doing something else? so looking prepared, excited to see them.
00:23:50
Speaker
These are just a couple of quick things that you can really do to stand out. Also, If a recruiter is introducing themselves to you, i also encourage students to think about, you know, listen for job titles.
00:24:05
Speaker
Depending on who you're talking to, like let's just say it's a mechanical engineer who's a Georgia Tech alum. I might think about, oh, wow, you're mechanical engineering alum. I'm a mechanical engineering student. What were you involved with, you know, during your time at Georgia Tech?
00:24:19
Speaker
That's a really awesome way to develop work. Now, if you're talking to just a centralized recruiter, They may not have an engineering background. They might be hiring for communications, operations, all different types of business functions.
00:24:31
Speaker
So I might not dive as deeply into that mutual connection, I may not dive too deeply into the technical component versus someone who has my area of expertise.
Professional Attire for Career Fairs
00:24:42
Speaker
So would you say that body language and etiquette play a large role? I think so, because there are things that you may be doing that may result in negative outcomes that you don't that you may not be aware of an example might be sometimes i'll see students who are talking very very closely to a recruiter and that can make some folks feel uncomfortable if you're too close so being aware of some of those cultural norms also practicing a handshake so unfortunately there's that stereotype that women may give
00:25:15
Speaker
we can't shake, so that might, you know, not leave a strong of an impression. So practicing that is good. Thinking about eye contact, trying to practice that. So I use the 80-20 rule, roughly 80% of the time you have eye contact with the person, gather your thoughts for that 20% and the then reconnect. You want to make sure that you're being engaged throughout the process and someone feels like you're interested in the conversation.
00:25:42
Speaker
just as women may need to learn to do a firmer handshake i would say you know be careful that it's not too hard either make jewelry in my free time i work with tools a lot a lot i do a lot of my own home reno i don't have weak hands but if i go in for a handshake and you're crushing my bones i'm going to think that's purposeful agreed agreed you do need to be mindful these little things because As I mentioned earlier, little things make a big difference. and So some of these employers want you to show up for the career fair, they want you to reach out on LinkedIn, and it is kind of like a squirt card. The more that you do right, I guess you could say with smiling, good handshake, not breaking someone's bones, or being so weak to where right now it doesn't create that connection.
00:26:29
Speaker
These are all little points that add up to the overall perspective of who you are as a candidate and can really distinguish you. What about attire, dress? It can be tough. It really can be a tough question to answer.
00:26:42
Speaker
Do you want to stand out because of your attire? I would say you will stand out in a positive way by dressing more formally than you typically would as an individual or walking into that workplace.
00:26:55
Speaker
So I said attire is difficult because some workplaces have different expectations. So let's just say if you want to work in tech like your Microsoft's and Google's, if you walked into an interview in a suit, they probably laughed you out of the door because that shows that you don't understand the culture.
00:27:13
Speaker
But in general, for engineering, for finance, consulting, it's appropriate for you to wear a nice dark suit. I once saw a student who showed up to the career fair, no not kidding, who had a rainbow cowboy hat.
00:27:28
Speaker
And he said, I want to stand out and make sure I'm memorable to recruiters. And I said, you will, but not for the reasons that you want. You google will achieve the exact opposite effect. You want to stand out for the content of the conversation, not the fact that you showed up in a bright yellow seat.
00:27:44
Speaker
It will make you memorable in that it distracted from the
Maintaining a LinkedIn Presence and Personal Reflection
00:27:48
Speaker
conversation. So in general, professional attire, a nice blazer, dark slacks, skirt, Again, you're you're looking not to stand out in this occasion. You're dressing for the occasion like you would for prom or if you think about it's your uniform, if you will.
00:28:05
Speaker
If you are seeking out you know a firefighter, they have a particular uniform or a police officer. So think of this as your uniform and dress for the occasion. What about being comfortable?
00:28:17
Speaker
Are heels expected? If you wear heels, which I personally wear flats because I think that's a lot more comfortable. We have at the all majors career fair that the Georgetown Career Center manages, it goes from 10 to 4 p.m. That's six hours.
00:28:33
Speaker
It is a long period of time to be in heels and some of these floors can be concrete. So that that's pretty painful for many folks. I personally recommend wearing flats if you can. If you do want to wear heels, i would wear at low heels.
00:28:47
Speaker
And i have seen some students wear tennis shoes. Some employers may care. I think many don't at this particular time because they know if it's a long event, some of them are wearing tennis shoes too and it can really hurt your feet. But the key is comfort at events like this.
00:29:03
Speaker
I would agree, especially because you may have to literally run to class in between your appointments. One of the things that I recommend our students do is starting as a freshman, post to LinkedIn bi-weekly.
00:29:20
Speaker
One of the great things about the Woodruff School is that the classes here give a lot of hands-on opportunities. Take pictures of yourself. Think about the skills that you're exhibiting and how those skills align to the future job that you want.
00:29:34
Speaker
Make a post about it. On the one hand, it's great to start having this back history of you as an engineer on LinkedIn. but it also will give you the chance to remember it more because you sat down at some earlier point and reflected on it and made that post.
00:29:52
Speaker
agree. We talked a lot about company research and how to really think about your audience, but I've neglected to say to really prepare as well, you've got to do something in tandem and what you're alluding to as well. It's a lot of self-reflection and keeping track of what you've been doing during your time at George Tech. So,
00:30:10
Speaker
That's excellent advice as a first year student. Start posting so that way as you get closer to interviews, you can go back and look and see, oh yeah, i did this project. Here's some great things that I did because not only in the career fair, but in the interview process and networking with employers, you need to be a storyteller.
Discussing Failure in Interviews: Learning and Growth
00:30:29
Speaker
You can't just say I'm a strong team player. You have to demonstrate it. Give me an example of a time that you worked in a team and experienced conflict. You need to know these responses on the spot.
00:30:40
Speaker
Many employers believe the best predictor of future performance is past performance. So when they're asking questions about teamwork, leadership, what they're asking is really for you to exhibit positive behaviors because they're trying to predict who you would be as a worker if they hired you.
00:30:58
Speaker
So the more that you are intentional and reflecting throughout your time Georgia Tech, reflecting on the values, not only the technical skills that you're gaining, but those essential skills that you're gaining the more comfortable you'll be when you put yourself in future professional settings.
00:31:14
Speaker
How do you recommend students talk about failure? Let's talk about the dreaded question everyone gets. If it's not as a career trainer, it'll be in the interview, tell me about a time failed. So how do should students respond? How should they talk about failure, or conflict, challenges?
00:31:30
Speaker
If you are not familiar with something called the STAR method of responding to questions like this, this is an example of a behavioral question. go Google it. Most of your recruiters will expect for you to successfully demonstrate your response utilizing this model.
00:31:44
Speaker
So the STAR method stands for it's an acronym to first talk about the situation. That's the S. T stands for task. What were you working on? a stands for action. This is where you really want to spend a lot of time because they're hiring you to act in some way, shape or form.
00:31:59
Speaker
This is their prediction of how you would act as a future worker. And R stands for what I call results and reflection. So STAR, situation, task, action, results, reflection.
00:32:11
Speaker
Yes, correct. So if you're being asked about something negative, the time you failed, experienced conflict, obviously it's going to be negative. What's more important is how did you act and how did you react to that situation? What did you learn?
00:32:26
Speaker
How would you act differently? Or how did you grow up from that experience? So the failure may be, you know, tried really hard on this project, but It just did not go as well as I thought. it doesn't have to be as literal as I got to see or whatever on the project.
00:32:42
Speaker
But I tried this particular method. it did not work. Reflection. Here's what I would do differently. Here's what I learned about myself. Maybe if it's team conflict, here's how I learned how to compromise, be respectful and understanding of different viewpoints.
00:32:58
Speaker
It's the reflection piece that's critical. So that's my main recommendation. Why do recruiters ask that question? What are they trying to get out of you? When they're asking about failure and they're asking that question, essentially, employers asking that because you're going to encounter adversity. You're going to fail and they want to know, can you bounce back from that?
00:33:20
Speaker
If it's team conflict, they are predicting you're going to have conflict in a team. So how are you going to handle that? A bad example of that response would be, oh, well, I experienced conflict in a team. Somebody wasn't doing their work, so I did it all.
00:33:36
Speaker
Or they weren't doing their work, so I went to my professor and told them about it and the professor addressed it So go back to that analogy concept. What the recruiter heard is, okay, so if you have a conflict with a team member, what you're going to do is just do all the work for them.
00:33:52
Speaker
You're not going to engage in a conversation, try to fix the situation yourself. That's problematic because, again, you may be taking on more than you can handle. Or if you said, I'm going to my professor, what does that communicate to the employer?
00:34:06
Speaker
When you have a problem, you're going to run to a manager instead of handling it yourself. So that's where kind of stepping back and thinking about, What's the core thing they're asking me? And then reflecting on why it's probably I'm going to encounter something similar in the future.
00:34:22
Speaker
I think it's important for students to keep in mind here when they're answering this question, do you again, remember the nonverbal aspect, maybe even semi verbal, but tone, they're probably also assessing what is your attitude about failure?
00:34:37
Speaker
How do you react when you
The Importance of Thank You Notes Post-Interview
00:34:39
Speaker
fail? Do you stay kind of in this sense of, whatever it was, anger, sadness, whatever thing you felt when you failed? Or can they see that you can overcome this and still be someone that you'd want to work with?
00:34:55
Speaker
agree. Absolutely. Well, then let's think about closing the loop. Is a generic thank you email enough? Is it necessary? Should students follow up? Based on my recent conversation with one of my Fortune 500 companies. If you're wondering why I'm not disclosing names, it's because it's personal opinions and they cannot speak on the behalf of their companies.
00:35:17
Speaker
But I heard in a great conversation that yes, the thank you helps, especially if it's a tailored one where it shows that you were listening. Anyone can say thank you so much for the interview. I really enjoyed our conversation. i hope you have a great week. You can send that to nike home depot deloitte insert any well-known brand name however when you take the time to say thank you for the time that you spent interviewing with me yesterday i enjoyed our conversation where we talked about a b or c and when you shared more about your experience with d this sounds very interesting i would love to get engaged with e
00:35:57
Speaker
Thank you very much for your time. If I can answer any further questions about my qualifications, please let me know your email signature. And in this conversation with my recruiter, I asked, you know, does it actually make a difference? And he said, yeah, actually it has quite a few times because we may work with some really stellar folks. We interviewed them and are really struggling with Who to pick? So we kind of go back on whiteboard, if you will, and say, did they do A or B or C or D?
00:36:27
Speaker
Okay, so you send a thank you note. That might be the one little point that actually tips you over to getting selected. So it's not hard to send. So take the time to do it it. can make a really
Follow-Up Strategies After Career Fairs
00:36:39
Speaker
big difference. And if nothing else, there's no negative to it, right?
00:36:43
Speaker
It leaves a positive impression. And people like being thanked for their time. Would you recommend that students sort of write down some notes about the conversation that they had with that recruiter before they go on to their next meeting?
00:36:55
Speaker
I do recommend that. Some recruiters will give business cards to you. They may give you some sort of collateral, flyer, something along those lines. So as you leave that particular table, I would go find a quiet corner it's okay if you're walking away.
00:37:10
Speaker
to get out your pen and just jot down some key notes of what you took away. You may be talking to dozens of companies. I don't expect for most people to remember every conversation. So taking a moment to jot down the key concepts and key takeaways while you're in that moment, I think is critical. So that way you can create that more tailored thank you note that may make you stand out a little bit more than the more generic ones that maybe one of your fellow students would send.
00:37:38
Speaker
Should students expect a response to these follow-ups? Absolutely not. If you think about it from a recruiter's perspective, they've met 50 plus students potentially in that day.
00:37:51
Speaker
So writing 50 emails on top of the job that they're expected to perform beyond just going to a career fair, there's not enough time in the day. So just be aware that a thank you note, while it may be expected, it is not intended to elicit a response.
00:38:06
Speaker
Okay. I know from our conversations in the past that sometimes the interview could come up pretty quickly after the career fair. Can you talk a little bit about what this timeline can be like sometimes and how soon it should be prepared?
00:38:20
Speaker
Yes. For some employers, I can speak from the all majors career fair, but it may also apply to other career fairs. So the Georgia Tech Career Center has an on-campus interview suite where employers can reserve interview rooms.
00:38:34
Speaker
So for the all majors career fair, there are companies that the very next day, Wow. And two days after we'll interview candidates. So they met you the day before. hope you're ready to interview the very next day.
00:38:45
Speaker
Now for other fairs, they may, you know, collect resumes, say go and apply online or may just accept your resume and that's your application. But typically a week Maybe two weeks after that is when the interview process will start.
00:38:59
Speaker
So just being aware of that timeline and seeking out resources early, I think are really critical. The Career Center offers a variety of interviewing workshops in preparation before the career fair, as well as shortly after.
00:39:12
Speaker
We have over 200 recorded webinars as well as online resources that can help students understand Why are employers asking me these questions? What are they looking for?
00:39:24
Speaker
Other general best practices. And as I mentioned earlier, huge fan of Big Interview. So, guytech.biginterview.com, log in with your GT credentials and you can read all kinds of information about best practices, guides, and as I mentioned earlier,
00:39:41
Speaker
You can record your responses to interview questions. You can view recorded responses to interview questions too to kind of spark different ideas about how you can approach your responses.
Building Communication Skills Through Education
00:39:51
Speaker
Those sound like great resources, especially the webinars.
00:39:55
Speaker
When I was preparing, i did a lot of that just like while I was eating lunch or doing the laundry, just, you know, listening to it while I was doing these other tasks. So don't take a lot of thought. Thank you so much for being here with us today. i wanted to leave you with time at the end, if there's anything you want to add, maybe what's one the underrated communication tip you wish all engineering students knew?
00:40:19
Speaker
What I would say is that you should not underestimate the classes that you're taking. Take advantage of any and every opportunity that you have. I don't care what the topic is, but do a writing intensive course.
00:40:33
Speaker
Do a course that requires public speaking. This is something that you are paying for at Church Tech, and this is not You will not have access to the same level of training and opportunities once you get into the workforce.
00:40:45
Speaker
So whatever the topic, if you have an option to take a writing intensive or public speaking course, I think it's critical. You can read about communication all day long, but getting into the mechanics of it, having to perform,
00:40:59
Speaker
and deliver, it will make things so much easier when you get into a professional setting where the stakes may be higher. That's my main recommendation. Don't overlook these opportunities right in front of you.
Georgia Tech Career Center Resources
00:41:10
Speaker
Well, thank you. Lastly, i know you mentioned a lot of support that the Career Center offers, but can you remind us how students can access more support workshops, resume reviews, mock interviews?
00:41:24
Speaker
Where can they go for more? Students have access to a lot of resources through the Career Center. I think many know that we offer one-on-one advising, which absolutely we do. We can talk about resumes, mock interviews.
00:41:38
Speaker
We can talk a lot about job search strategy and we talk with students quite a lot about decision making, in particular towards the middle to late part of the semester where they may have multiple job offers.
00:41:49
Speaker
What is a good and job offer? How do i approach this conversation with an employer? How do I decline, accept, extend? So we can work with you on essentially any aspect of the job.
00:42:01
Speaker
search and ultimately securing the decision. But couple other resources I want to highlight. We have drop-in hours from 2 to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. So in a situation like a career fair where they say, hey I've got an interview the next day or a couple days after, if there aren't enough one-on-one advising appointments, you can stop by to talk to us anytime and make sure that we can give you the information that you need to help you get prepared.
00:42:27
Speaker
We also have a lot of workshops, webinars. We offer over 100 each semester. And my favorite phrase is see me before you need me. See us before you need us. Take advantage of these opportunities to gain in-depth knowledge before you need it because things are going to pop up very quickly.
00:42:44
Speaker
Well, thank you so much for being here. Thank you so much, Jill. It was a pleasure.