The Big Transition

Don’t think you’re on the right road just because it’s a well-beaten path.

~Author Unknown

I wasn’t sure what I was going to do when I entered my senior year at OSU. I owned a company, but I knew I could not bank on it supporting me when I graduated. I knew what my brother was doing, and I had an interest in it, but I also knew it was a start-up company, and they can be very unstable. So I weighed my options and decided I should take the safe route and search for a possible job next year.

I wasn’t really sure how to go about doing this. I had never gone to an internship or job fair, and I was convinced that I wouldn’t accept an entry level corporate job. I had to much business experience. I’d had one internship before, but I got it through networking. So I went to my roommates (who had experience in this), and asked them what to do. They said what I figured they would. They told me that I needed to attend career fairs, get contact information, and set up interviews.

Great, I thought, just what I want to do. I want to put a suit on, fake a smile, and go introduce myself to recruiters acting like I am really interested in joining their company. Regardless, I put those thoughts in the back of my mind and went for it. I had a resume, a black portfolio, a pinstripe suit, and a striped tie. I was having a lot of trouble with this, and I felt uncomfortable going, but I knew I had to get the experience. I had done some research on the companies that were attending the job fair, and I picked a few of the smaller ones that I thought I may actually have some interest in. I figured, if I was going to do this I may as well make it worth my while.

When I got there I felt like an ant marching in a line seeking approval from everyone I passed, peers and recruiters alike. I listened to the conversations that people were having with the recruiters, and they were all the same. Everyone had the same mannerisms, a smile, standing straight, reaching for a handshake, and making eye contact. I thought it was great that they were trained to do that, I’ve been trained to do that as well, I just couldn’t find the sincerity in it.

I found my way to the companies I was there to visit, and made an attempt to make conversation. I reached my hand out to shake theirs, and I put a smile on, trying as hard as I could to look sincere. We started talking, and I made an attempt to be real, I started asking about the company culture, the locations that were hiring, and tried to learn about the company history. Some of the people were pleasant, but they seemed a little taken back by the questions I was asking. They seemed to be thinking, “who does this kid think he is”?

I got a few offers for interviews, and I exchanged cards and information with them, but I still didn’t feel good about the whole situation. Eventually I went through with the interviews and information sessions, and it wasn’t as bad as expected.

What I realized through this whole process was that recruiters would never take me seriously no matter what the situation was. It didn’t matter whether I was one of 500 people walking around shaking their hands, or if it was just me and them in an interview, either way they expected to meet basically the same person in every scenario. So how do you get recruiters to take you seriously? I am sure that if I acted like everyone else, said all of the things I was told I should, and do everything “right”, they couldn’t possibly think there was anything about me that could benefit their company. But what if I act like myself and take a different approach? I could be myself, expressing my ideas, and ask questions that would be relevant to me 6 months into the job, not just the questions I should ask to get the job.

So that is what I attempted to do, and I am under the impression that they look at me as a sort of rebel, and someone that was not properly molded by the system. Maybe I got the wrong impression of the system, and how it functions, but maybe not. I wonder if I am really that much different then all of the people doing all of the “right” things. I doubt it.