Job Hunting and Video Chats: The CalTech and Harvey Mudd Winter 2022 Career Fair

Pre-pandemic, Mudd held two in person career fairs every semester in the Linde Activities Center (LAC). Usually, one was more computer science and engineering focused, while the other was  more general. Large crowds of people are no longer practical, so the Office of Career Services has shifted to offering online career fairs instead, in conjunction with CalTech. I attended the most recent one!

The poster for the career fair!

My experience at the career fair actually began a while before the career fair did. The Office of Career Services started holding information and preparation sessions in the week leading up to the fair. They held resume review workshops throughout the week (including one the day before the fair that lasted for five hours, and one with Mudd alumni!), drop in hours with career consultants who could answer specific questions, and virtual career fair preparation workshops. I attended one of the workshops, since I hadn’t actually been to a career fair since my freshman year two years ago! 

The workshop was super helpful. Not only did they go through how to work the virtual site (a very cool platform that let you “enter” different booths for the different employers to see information about them and text/video chat with a representative), but they also discussed typical preparation for a career fair–how to write a resume, find jobs or internships you were interested in, and give an elevator pitch about yourself. I definitely felt more ready for the career fair after that.

The fair itself had 82 different booths in it, including employers looking to hire seniors for full time jobs, companies accepting applications for summer interns, and grad schools offering information on their programs. I could filter the different booths by what they were offering (internships, jobs, etc) and by what they were looking for (freshman, sophomores, juniors, or seniors). I remember when the fairs were in person, opportunities for freshmen used to be noted with gold and black balloons on their booths! Filtering by class year is more expedient, but not quite as colorful. 

Overall, I found the career fair very helpful. It lasted for five hours, and students could come in for any amount of time, stop by booths, and get more information about different opportunities. Though it wasn’t quite like in person fairs, it was still a great experience!