Did your student get their job from an on campus career fair, through an alumni association, family connections, or sending out resumes through a job board website, etc…?
I’ve been reading lots of parents saying in person career fairs at colleges don’t matter anymore, or that jobs are only regionally based. That hasn’t been our experience at all so I’m curious if Purdue is an outlier.
(My D is planning on working for her co-op company, which recruits heavily at her school).
Army. Taking the guesswork out of life since 1775.
Summer internship before senior year turned into a job offer by January.
For the most part, this is true. Students stand in long lines just to drop off a resume and get told to apply online. There are gems though, and they can be hard to suss out.
With the exception of offers after internships, all of my son’s offers came from career fair interactions. They were small companies, doing interesting things. The one he landed at was in stealth mode, giving only a tease of their mission. He just wanted to figure out what they did. The head ME talked to him for 30 minutes. They set up an interview with the founder. He was hired as the first new grad and has been there ever since.
The problem with online is that it’s most often a black hole. He was Magna Cum Laude and his MS was With Distinction. He had great internships, a strong thesis, and good job experience. Nine times out of ten, the online apps were met with crickets.
I’d say go the the career fairs, know their going to be frustrating, and look for the gems. Vet the companies as best as possible in advance.
Older son interviewed an executive as part of a course project. The interview with the executive was facilitated by the professor in the course. A month later he got a call inviting him in for an interview. He apparently impressed the executive.
Younger son started with an on-campus interview and was invited for an onsite interview.
On campus interview led to more interviews and tests then led to the job offer.
Oldest - job offer before graduation from an alum friend
Middle - med school
Youngest - turned down two job offers prior to graduation received from those who knew him to go into Permaculture Farming on his own and currently no regrets.
First to anyone reading this thread…while it seems (especially on CC) that most graduates have a job lined up during senior year, in my world of my kids and friends kids, simply not true! Happens for some, not all and definitely not all disciplines!!
My kids:
#1 - Public Relations major. Near graduation interviewed for a post-grad paid internship with a small PR firm - it turned into a full time position.
#2 - Teacher. Secured a job in July a couple months after graduation. At that time there were not a lot of jobs posted until the schools started the classroom teacher shuffle for the new year which often happens mid- late summer.
#3 - Soon to be Doctor of Occupational Therapy - yet to be determined! Grad this May, boards then job hunt!
Really for none of them will their small private schools really be a big factor in the job search. It was more my kids hitting the “pavement”.
On campus career fair junior year led to summer internship before senior year. Was given a return offer (exploding) just as senior year started. While I understand its need, I really dislike the exploding offer. When I was in college there was a standard recruiting timeframe and companies let you go through the process and compare offers. I feel like the “new” process is way more stressful.
What is an exploding offer?
It is an offer with an expiration. She was given the offer in September and given 2 weeks or so to decide which forced the choice of: yes, I want to work for them or no, not sure, need to explore, go through the normal recruiting process, and don’t know if I will get another offer and if I do will I like it better. It was not really difficult for her; she was very excited to accept. It’s essentially like if schools with rolling admissions (or even early admissions) had different/rolling acceptance deadlines forcing students to make a choice before they knew all their options. In my day, recruiting was more like the current college system - you collect (hopefully) offers, compare, and all decisions are demanded by the same deadline. Now you have to make a choice not knowing if you will have other/better options.
Most regular job changes (not coming out of college) are exploding offers anyway. It is good training to learn to strategize how to line up interviews etc. Still painful – I agree.
First offered job during junior year accounting internship, let her defer a year while she took her cpa exams.
Second had an internship senior year found through fraternity contacts, finance, and was offered a job after graduation.
For ds1, he took an Americorps job after graduating. He learned of the Americorps route at a job fair on campus. Eventually, he went back to work FOR his college!
For ds2, it depends on what we count as first job.
DS2 knew to what town he wanted to move after graduation. He interned at a place in that city the summer before senior year that he learned about via a connection he made at his college – an alum who worked for that same large company (company A) in another city and who had some pull. Ds2’s immediate supervisor wanted to hire him after graduation, but company A dragged its feet so he got another job that he learned of via a college externship senior year for which you had to apply and be chosen. He met people who worked there and loved the corporate culture so applied to that large company’s branch (company B) in his desired city. No joke, the day he signed on the dotted line with company B, he got a call from the old boss at company A saying they were ready to interview him. YIKES. He dragged his feet so that he could work at company B for six weeks before bailing. He felt horrible, but the company A job was too good to pass up.
So, I think where he went to college had a huge hand in his current path.
First kid - grad school
Second kid - was so burnt out graduating in May 2021 from school and COVID, she took a part time retail job just to make a little money while she decided what next. Now is interviewing for social work type jobs. She will get one but will not be a millionaire 
Professor at SMU took a screenshot of my son’s final exam and sent it to his contact at a major investment bank, and said, “You need to interview this kid”. And they did.
Our daughter graduated as a photography/art history major in May 2020. Horrible timing. She quickly got a part-time job photographing newborns at the hospital, but COVID shut that down before it even started. The company has STILL not been allowed back in the hospital!
She lived at home with us for nine months. She got lots of money from the federal government, which I certainly didn’t begrudge her! She was willing to work but there was NOTHING. She got a job as a nanny for about six months. She was diligent about looking online for work. Her dad and I were of no help at all since we’re engineers.
She almost took a low-paying job going school to school photographing students, but then the Portland Museum of Art hired her on a very limited basis to help set up and take down exhibits. She’s making lots of great connections through this position.
Then she found a job with a company that photographs products for Hannaford’s, our supermarket chain. It doesn’t pay great, but she’s got her own studio at Hannaford’s HQ and can set her own hours. She has enough PTO that she can work at the Museum whenever they need her (usually it’s half-time for a week or two every few months). She has good insurance and they will even match her IRA contribution (I had charged her “rent” which I am giving back to her on the condition that she puts money into the IRA automatically every month). She’s making ends meet and continuing to look for opportunities in the area. Her BFF just moved here from Pennsylvania - that young lady is making a living from painting portraits on commission! The two of them are thinking about renting a small studio together and they’re taking a grant-writing class to try to get some funding for community projects. I am incredibly proud of my daughter, who has anxiety but is flourishing.
Daughter #1 graduated with a degree in quantitative economics and got a job with a consulting firm that did business with my husband’s company; H provided her with a contact who she approached for an interview. She worked there for 5 years and then went for an MBA. Job after her MBA was one she found through her MBA program–another consulting firm. She stayed for 4 years and then went to work for the governing body of an Olympic sport.
Daughter #2 graduated with a degree in theater and Russian studies. After graduation she worked in regional theater and supported herself with a variety of jobs–nanny for the children of one of her former professors (she drove the kids to activities), barista at a coffee shop, and retail (book store). She did that for 4 years and then went to study at a theater program in Moscow (one year). From there, she went to an MFA program in acting. The year she started was the first year that her program adopted a policy of funding all the students who were accepted!! She graduated and moved to NYC–a few months later COVID happened and there were almost no theater jobs. She and her boyfriend spent the next two years managing a small cafe/general store that boyfriend’s father owned–they started an outdoor cafe, which caught the attention of Yankee Magazine and had lots of customers. They moved back to NYC and she started auditioning last fall. She supports herself by doing voice overs and coaching kids who want to get into BFA or MFA acting programs. To get into those programs doing well in the audition is extremely important and lots of kids will work with coaches.
This one is of great interest! My daughter, a college freshman, is currently pursuing an ODT. She interned/shadowed at a pediatric OT clinic her senior year in high school and was sold on the profession.
Needless to say, she has a ways to go before the job hunt. Of course, I’m hoping it will be a smooth and quick transition.
Congrats and best of luck to all of your children!
By stalking Indeed and FB Jobs listings.