Career Link: Day II

Career Link continues today at the University City Sheraton from 10am to 3pm today!  Day Two focuses on consulting, communications/marketing, consumer products, education, insurance, manufacturing and retail positions!

Dress sharp and bring plenty of resumes!

Employers attending today’s session include:

  • A T Kearney
  • Abercrombie & Fitch (Home Office)
  • Accenture
  • Advisory Board Company
  • AL DIA News
  • Amazon
  • American Express
  • Anheuser-Busch
  • Applied Predictive Technologies (APT)
  • Argus Information & Advisory Services
  • Axia Limited
  • Bain & Company
  • Boston Consulting Group
  • Brown Shoe Company
  • Campbell Soup
  • Censeo Consulting Group
  • Charles River Associates (formerly CRA International)
  • Charming Shoppes, Inc.
  • China Education Initiative
  • CIGNA
  • ClearBridge Compensation Group
  • comScore, Inc.
  • Contact Singapore
  • Cornerstone Research
  • Corporate Executive Board
  • Decision Resources
  • Deloitte Consulting
  • Diamond Management & Technology Consultants, Inc.
  • Dick’s Sporting Goods
  • Epic
  • Excalibur Medical Imaging, PA
  • Gap Inc.
  • General Mills
  • Health Advances
  • Hewitt Associates
  • Hillstone Restaurant Group
  • IBM Consulting
  • Illinois Tool Works
  • IMS Health
  • J.Crew Group, Inc.
  • LECG, LLC
  • Lord & Taylor
  • Macy’s / Bloomingdale’s
  • Marakon
  • Mars & Co
  • Math for America
  • MBI, Inc.
  • NERA Economic Consulting
  • New England Consulting Group
  • Novantas LLC
  • Oliver Wyman (Financial Services Consulting)
  • Oliver Wyman (General Management Consulting)
  • Pace Harmon
  • PriceSpective LLC
  • PricewaterhouseCoopers
  • Revolution Prep
  • Risk Management Solutions
  • Rosetta
  • Sponsors for Educational Opportunity
  • Swiss RE
  • Teach For America
  • Thorogood Associates
  • TJX Companies, Inc
  • Towers Watson
  • Travelers Companies
  • Universum
  • USMC Officer Selection Team
  • Vanguard
  • Wharton Interactive Media Initiative
  • ZL Technologies, Inc.
  • ZS Associates

Be prepared by checking out our Career Fair tips video!

This career fair is open to eligible, current Penn students and alumni only.

Don’t Forget: CAREER LINK Starts Today!

The first career fair of the year is today!

Current Penn students and alumni are welcome to come to the University Sheraton Hotel between 10am and 3pm today to speak with recruiters from a wide variety of companies!  Day One focuses on accounting, financial services, real estate, and finance related positions. Dress sharp and bring plenty of resumes!

Employers attending today’s session include:

  • American Express
  • AXA Equitable
  • Axiom
  • BAE Systems
  • Barclays Capital
  • BMO Capital Markets
  • Capital One
  • Centerview Partners
  • Consolidated Trading
  • Contact Singapore
  • Coverago
  • Exxon Mobil Corporation
  • Eze Castle Software
  • Fidelity Investments
  • First New York Securities, LLC
  • Fortegra Financial
  • GCA Savvian
  • Houlihan Lokey
  • Hudson Housing Capital
  • ICG
  • INROADS
  • J.P. Morgan
  • Jane Street Capital, LLC
  • KPMG LLP
  • KTR Capital Partners
  • Lime Brokerage
  • Lincoln Financial Group
  • M&T Bank Corporation
  • Macquarie Holdings
  • Macy’s / Bloomingdale’s
  • MetLife Investments
  • New Holland Capital, LLC
  • New York Life Insurance Company
  • NYSE Euronext
  • Oliver Wyman (Financial Services Consulting)
  • PIMCO (Pacific Investment Management Co.)
  • Piper Jaffray
  • PNC Financial Services Group
  • Procter & Gamble Company
  • Prudential
  • Putnam Investments
  • Raymond James & Associates
  • RBS
  • Sanford C. Bernstein & Co.
  • SL Green Realty Corp
  • Sponsors for Educational Opportunity
  • Spot Trading
  • Stifel, Nicolaus & Company, Incorporated
  • Susquehanna International Group, LLP
  • TD Bank
  • Teach For America
  • The Financial Clinic
  • Travelers Companies
  • Tyco Electronics
  • USMC Officer Selection Team
  • Vornado Realty Trust

Remember the fair continues tomorrow with another set of great employers!  Be prepared by checking out our Career Fair tips video!

This career fair is open to eligible, current Penn students and alumni only.

Navigating OCR with a Low GPA: Networking & Persistence are the Keys to Success

This blog was written by a May 2010 graduate who, despite a low GPA, landed a great job through the recruiting process.

My GPA at the beginning of senior year was far from perfect. While I had a great resume in terms of community achievements, extra-curriculars, and work experience, my GPA consistently kept employers at bay. It’s not very surprising that I received only a meager handful of interviews (I estimate about 3) with my resume alone. I can probably attribute another 3 interviews to my networking efforts at On-Campus Recruiting (OCR) events (like the Career Fairs being held this week.)

My tips for OCR networking would be to 1) formulate and ask questions that you would have if you were really planning to work for the firm, and 2) to bring something to the table — if you run a business on the side or a non-profit, offer up a board or advisory position.

Regarding 1), it doesn’t help to ask a recruiter whether they like their job or about the projects they’re working on — most likely, they’re bound by confidentiality agreements and can’t tell you much. Instead, I liked to ask for a rundown of a day-in-their-life, or ask them about specific metrics and tools they use on a daily basis. These are questions that give a more tangible answer that can help you better understand the profession and prepare for the job. As for 2), I happened to work for a non-profit consultancy at the time and we were looking for people to fill our Board of Directors — I ended up being more memorable than most people because I could leverage that offer and talk up my involvements at the same time.

However, the bulk of interviews that I scored (about 10 or so) resulted from waking up early each day, dressing up as if I had an interview, smiling grimly to myself, massaging the tired bags that lingered persistently beneath my eyes before heading out, and working my way through the Recruiter Add-On Interview process where employers fill open interview slots on the day of their on-campus interviews by accepting “Recruiter Add-On Interview Requests”. (see the link for instructions)

Overall, OCR was an extremely humbling experience, and I ended up making some contacts (which I keep in touch with via LinkedIn) that truly believed in my intellectual worth. I also picked up valuable communications skills and learned how to effectively “sell” myself as a candidate. If anything, it amply prepared me for the interview that did land me a job, as I am now happily employed at a firm that has given me the exact opportunities I originally planned to tackle 3 or 4 years down the line. So, if you are in my shoes, I wouldn’t expect to get a job offer early in the process — but when you do, it’ll most likely be a better fit than you ever imagined.

To be fair, I had a somewhat excusable reason for my low GPA (something that can be considered an extenuating circumstance.) And I inherently believed that I had something to offer companies. So this is by no means the go-ahead to dive into OCR with a low GPA and some poorly timed drunken escapades or a reckless freshman year to blame. You really need a strong emotional support network (friends, significant other, family, mentor etc.) — because you will break down occasionally — and a healthy, unwavering sense of self-confidence to take this OCR approach. However, I hope this will help prospective job seekers with low GPAs understand the truth — companies do not look lightly upon a poor GPA. It does not matter how life-threatening your circumstances, you’ll still deal with the skepticism and have a hard(er) time getting your foot through the door.

Despite this, don’t let a low GPA deter you from participating in the OCR process. Build on your strengths and have an arsenal of positive accomplishments to offset that GPA. Make sure companies understand you are hard-working, but not necessarily in the traditional sense.  And most importantly, you just have to work harder than other OCR-goers — and unfortunately, that’s just something we have to accept.

This old blog post offers tips on preparing for a career fair.

Career Fairs for People Not Seeking Jobs

Dr. Joseph Barber

Six things you can do at career fairs even if you aren’t actively looking for a job

1) Hand people your well-formatted, mistake-free, Career Services’ critiqued resume. OK, if you are not looking for a job, this is one that you might be able to skip. But…, what happens if you are chatting with employers (see below), and someone asks about your experience, and then says, “do you have a resume I can take away with me?”. As you don’t want to miss this opportunity to network, which is the better answer:

  • Errr…., no, but I can write my name and email on this napkin”
  • “Yes, this reflects my experience to date, and obviously I am going to be gaining more experience over the next few months/years. If I were interested in this type of opportunity, can you see any areas where additional experience might help me in this career field?”
  • “What’s a resume?”

2) Network. People with effective networks build them continuously over time, and may not seek anything from their contacts for many months or years. They spend their time developing and maintaining their network so that when they do need help, the network is already there for them, and the people within the network know and trust them. The best time to network from a career perspective is when you are not actively looking for a job. You have more time, and you come across as less desperate. If you work hard to help people remember you by staying in contact, then you increase the likelihood that they’ll be thinking of you when future job opportunities arise. So, take time at career fairs to share your information with people in different career fields, think of creative ways to maintain contact with them over time to establish an effective relationship, and ask the most important question of all to gain access to their network: “Do you anyone you think I should talk with to find out more information?

3) Think about Plan B. You may have your heart set on one type of job, or working at one specific organization, and it is important that you work hard to achieve what you want. However, it never hurts to have a back-up plan, your career Plan B. If you are a graduate student, then you may be planning on following the tenure track, and seeking only academic teaching or research positions. The academic job market is hard to predict, and will always be changeable, but it will always be highly competitive, and there will always be someone who does not get the job they interviewed for. We hope that person is not you, and we’ll work hard with you to help you be the successful one, but it never hurts to be thinking about Plan B. If you need to switch tracks at a future date, will you have enough transferable skills and experiences to make you a competitive candidate in a completely different career field? At the career fair you can ask recruiters what they are looking for in resumes for the types of jobs they have available now. They might be able to help identify the kind of experiences you can gain in the present, and over the next few months/years, that might make you competitive for other types of jobs in the future.

4) Tell people about yourself. The question “tell me about yourself” will come up whenever you meet new people (whether spoken or inferred), but can also be asked during phone and in-person interviews. You need to have an interesting, succinct, and confident answer. You are the expert in the subject of you, and so it is the one topic that you should have no hesitation talking about. Career fairs are a great place to practice talking about yourself, as you need to summarize who you are, what skills you have, where you want to be going in the future, and how the person you are talking with might be able to help, all within about 30-60 seconds. When you are networking, people need to know what your network goals are so that they know how they can help you. For example, are you looking for information, opportunities, or future contacts?

5) Talk about your research. Graduate students have two types of tricky questions to answer in terms of what they have been doing with themselves. When telling people about yourself, you will of course mention the research you do, but research is not the only topic you should talk about. The “tell me about yourself” answer needs to be slightly broader (e.g., what brought you to Penn, what are some of the key skills you have, how have your experiences changed the way you think about aspects of the world, and how do you see yourself using your knowledge and skills in the future). When talking more specifically about your research, you will need to summarize what you do in a way that makes your subject understandable to a range of different people with differing degrees of expertise in your specific area. Can you tailor a summary about your research on ancient Aramaic texts or Tribble genes to experts in the field and to HR representatives? Can you make your research interesting and relevant to them? Again, career fairs are a great way to practice talking about your research, and it does take practice.

6) See how it is done. You don’t want your first career fair to be the one where you need to find a job. You want to work out all of your career fair nerves beforehand. Even if you don’t talk to any employers (and you really should – they won’t bite), you can still watch how your peers handle themselves at career fairs? You can see how they are dressed, and whether they are keeping their right hand free to shake hands with people they meet, without having to juggle paperwork and drinks (and that means thinking about which shoulder to hang your bag on, so it doesn’t slip off when extending your hand). Small things can sometimes count when you are trying to make a good first impression. You can listen to the types of questions they ask, and you can learn to emulate or avoid the good or bad approaches they use.

Here is a list of the career fairs coming your way this semester:

A Little Thank You Can Go a Long Way

By Kelly Cleary

It’s graduation season and among other things (celebrations, remember-when’s and see-you-later’s, packing up dorm rooms, obsessively checking email and voicemail as you wait to hear news of interview and job offers…), it’s graduation gift time, which also means it’s THANK YOU NOTE time. If you are a procrastinator, you may simply have a mental list of aunties and old family friends to send little notes to, or your mom may be keeping that list for you. If you fall in the type-A category and you’re also still job searching, as many new grads are, then you might have cranked out those thank you notes and placed them in the post box soon after you received that copy of Dr. Seuss’s “Oh, The Places You’ll Go” and those fantastic cards accompanied by checks, because keeping on top of thank-you notes is one way to feel like you’re in control. And we all know that one of the most frustrating things about searching for a job job is that you have little control over the interview and offer process.

In the same way that sending a sweet little card that says, “Thanks for the ….., it’s just what I hoped for…” makes auntie or granny feel appreciated and reflects well on your character and generally brings on good karma, so does a short thank you note or email to follow up with professional interactions you may have with alumni, prospective employers, and others who work in your field of interest. Of course, this means you should send a thank you after an interview, but it also means you should take the time to send thank you notes to recruiters you meet at career fairs, like the Campus Philly Opportunities Fair on June 15th, and professionals who give you job search advice at professional or social networking events, like the upcoming Penn Alumni Club of Philadelphia socials or the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce Young Professionals Network New Member Orientation.

It’s also smart to send a little thank you to your friend’s mom who offered to introduce you to a prospective employer while you were waiting in the buffet line at a graduation party or that friendly gentleman who suggested a few good companies or job search sites while you were sitting next to each other on the train. And all the better if in a few weeks time you send them another note to share an interesting article or a little success story about how their advice helped you progress in your search. While writing thank you’s probably won’t directly speed up the interview process, appreciative follow-ups to these types of interactions will help you cultivate colleagues and mentors  while building a reputation as a collegial, proactive, and respectful professional which will no doubt help you advance your career. The magic connection to the job might not happen immediately, but these exchanges and relationships frequently bring you closer to new opportunities.

Yes, we are talking about networking here. You’ll find tips and resources for networking on our Making Contacts page. And you’ll find a few sample thank you notes on our website and even more on the Quintcareers Thank You Letters Resource for Job Seekers site.