Today it was my turn to participate in the “torture the new employee” at work. The new employee in question was myself and the task was to spend long hours in the student union of a local university collecting resumes from the soon-to-be-graduated-and-unemployed and the not-graduating-yet-seeking-internship students.
As we are not hiring, my company took a low-key approach to recruiting students, which meant a black and white, single page printout about the company, a stack of business cards and plenty of one-on-one interaction. Some of the recruiters went all out. Big displays. Interesting swag. The construction company to the left of me, specializing in big projects*, handed out thin, three sided rulers, each side marked using a different measurement system. There were pens, notepads, keychain flashlights and gym sacks. Miniature traffic cones. Popcorn.
I chatted with the students, gave out business cards, gathered resumes and tried to be reassuring. I wished them luck in their search. I referred one young woman, out of college for a year and struggling to find employment, to my former boss as a possible contact for employment. I gave a second woman a list of references to aid her in her search for an internship in QA. I even did a little of recruiting for one of our clients.
It was gratifying and frustrating. It was gratifying to the excitement and nervousness in the face of the students. It was frustrating to have to say over and over that we were not hiring, I did not know when we would be hiring, I'm really sorry that you are having so much trouble finding something but that will not change my answer.
And it was fun to have one student ask if the software would aid in fighting a “Cloverfield like monster attack? Or aliens? Will it help fight against aliens?”
*You know those giant earthmovers and dumptrucks you see along highways under construction? The kind with wheels the size of a small house? They did those kind of projects.
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