<p>Can any of you share your kids' experiences with on-campus recruiting for jobs?</p>
<p>My daughter is in the middle of it now, and I'm curious about other students' experiences.</p>
<p>My son got a job through on-campus recruiters (he had several offers to choose from).
It is certainly very convenient for the students. And some companies prefer certain campuses, so being a student at the “feeder” school is a definite advantage.</p>
<p>I graduated in 2003. I did 9 on campus interviews and received 0 job offers.</p>
<p>Economy was bad then, like today. More than likely she’s having difficulties and that is not suprising.</p>
<p>No difficulties (except for an apparently confused interviewer who left campus yesterday when there were still two students to be interviewed), but because of the economy, she’s anticipating a low yield – meaning that few applications will result in first-round interviews, and even fewer first-round interviews will result in second-round interviews (not to mention actual offers).</p>
<p>Actually, she overestimated the number of applications needed to get a reasonable number of first-round interviews and is now going slightly berserk trying to keep up with all the interviewing. (Seven interviews in one week is a bit draining, especially at a time when you also have exams.) But she (and I) still expect that the number of first-round interviews that will result in second-round interviews will be small.</p>
<p>My daughter attends a university that is rather far from major metropolitan areas, making travel time-consuming. There’s one company that she applied to that solicited applications through the on-line on-campus recruiting system but has conducted its first round interviews by telephone. It’s also conducting its second round interviews at this school by telephone. Apparently, nobody has to do any traveling unless they’re picked for the third round. This seems eminently sensible to me. I respect the company for doing it that way.</p>
<p>I found out that some of the companies interviewed upwards of 90 students for 1 position. </p>
<p>And some of the places I interviewed at weren’t hiring but wanted the exposure for future opportunities.</p>
<p>It was a frustrating experience.</p>
<p>My son got internships via the on campus recruiting. He also got internships via other students passing his name on, when an internship was withdrawn and he had to go looking again. He got his job offer for next year from last summer’s internship.</p>
<p>Mathmom, congrats to S1!!!</p>
<p>Marian, S1 is not yet looking for FT employment (he’s a junior), but the telephone interview seems to be standard operating procedure these days. He has interviewed at two major companies and gone through at least two levels of interviews by phone. </p>
<p>For the internship he had this summer, a grad student passed on his name to the company’s recruiter. From there, he got emails, then phone interviews, then an IRL interview and then a job.</p>
<p>For another internship, the company’s recruiter for his college contacted the specific department and asked for names of students with certain skill sets. </p>
<p>Interesting way to go for a generation of kids who’d rather text than talk!</p>
<p>My daughter got internships three years in a row by applying to companies/organizations that she identified either through online searching or through job board ads. In all cases, she was interviewed by telephone. </p>
<p>She also tried the on-campus recruiting system to get internships and struck out (although she did get a few first-round interviews).</p>
<p>This experience might suggest that applying through websites and responding to ads is a better way to get a job than using the on-campus recruiting system, but there are certain companies and industries that recruit entry level people ONLY through on-campus recruiting, so students who are interested in those companies/industries can’t avoid the system, however frustrating it may be.</p>
<p>My son got his job through the university job posting system. He had the same experience with several companies - first one or more phone screenings, then onsite visits. The company that hired him started late - their onsite visit was in April; got the job offer two days before commencement. Whew!</p>
<p>He did go through some on campus screening interviews but they didn’t go anywhere else. He also got some emails from the senior resume book. But TartanTrak was the best route to serious interest from companies; they wanted students from his university.</p>
<p>Re internships - he got his first one after freshman year by applying online over Memorial Day weekend to an internship posting that I had run into while browsing online - had the offer by the end of the week. He returned to that company the next two summers (it was an international headquarters 15 minutes from our house) but wasn’t interested in that industry for a career.</p>
<p>My son has had several telephone interviews. He’s so awful to talk to on the phone, I can’t imagine what they are like, but I imagine that it’s not so bad when they are talking computer science. If they like him on the phone interview they fly him out. CS still seems to have plenty of money…</p>
<p>Thanks CD for the congrats.</p>
<p>Oldest son had a half-dozen on-campus interviews, which resulted in three trips to the west coast for further interviews and tests (!) and two job offers. He accepted one in December of his senior year (2008-09) and was all set. Naturally, we think they are great conduits, but he was in a sought-after program. Not sure how the liberal arts majors fared - I know many of his friends struggled to get anything in their field. I do think the autumn interviews get kids focused early in the year, and that will give them a boost in the job-hunting process.</p>
<p>On-campus recruiting is one of the best avenue for students looking for internships and permanent jobs. My son got his last two summer internships through on-campus recruiting. This year, as a junior, he is quite a bit more active as most companies are looking for interns with a Junior standing. He had quite a few interviews so far and is still waiting for more. One thing that I learn was to start early. Most people, myself included, do not realize that the recruiting season starts right around the time that the school term starts. A lot of job postings were posted even before the first day of school. The major caree fair starts about a month after the school start. For those students that relax a little bit will miss a lot of good opportunities.</p>
<p>My son didn’t have great luck through his own on-campus interviews, in large part because very few companies came from the locations in which he was interested. It was very heavily NYC/NJ/Phila oriented. Some Chicago and an occasional LA/Dallas company. He got his job through another university’s on-campus interviews.<br>
My niece (Penn State) did not have any luck through on-campus interviews for an engineering job (very high GPA and interviews well) but finally did get a job from a company where she had previously interned (they finally got the funding to hire her).</p>
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<p>A case can even be made for scheduling easier classes and fewer extracurricular activities in the first semester of senior year than in other semesters to make time for on-campus recruiting.</p>
<p>Of course, the luckiest kids are those who got top internships through on-campus recruiting (usually at the beginning of the spring semester of their junior years) and then got offers of full-time jobs as a result of the internships. But not everyone is so fortunate. Many internships do not lead directly to jobs, and many kids do not find internships of any sort.</p>
<p>Marian - It’s great your daughter has 7 first round lined up. It may seem like over doing it and she may feel pressure now in trying to go to classes and doing her interviews, but it is necessary in order to get few offers. I wouldn’t worry so much about missing few classes. At the end it is probably more important to get a job.</p>
<p>When D1 interviewed last Spring, for a week she had 2-3 interviews a day between first round to final round. One thing she used to do was to make sure she was the first one to sign up online for her interviews. There is a strategy of when is the best time to have interviews - never be the last few, not right before lunch. It’s good to be the second or third because interviewer has settled down, and still not too tired to remember you. D1 had a choice of which company to interview first - I told her to practice with ones she was least interested in. It worked out because she bombed the first interview, she had no answer for most of questions they asked. She looked up those questions on the internet and we rehearsed over Skype, and she was good to go.</p>
<p>Marian - your daughter’s school (D1’s school too) has one of the strongest on campus recruiting program. They have a very good guideline that every company has to follow in order to recruit on campus. The guideline is there to protect students - no off campus (second round)interview until a certain date (so students would be able to interview on campus first). One other important rule is every company must give students 3 weeks or Nov 1 to accept/decline, whichever one is later (this is for fall recruiting). </p>
<p>Good luck to your daughter, keep us posted.</p>
<p>At least people on this board have kids who are pro-active and out there interviewing when companies are looking. There are many students who don’t get around to reflecting on what happens next until spring of senior year…at which point they have missed one of the golden opportunities of their lives. Once you are an adult, there is no ability to present yourself simultaneously to a range of companies who are actually looking to hire people in to reasonable jobs in usually viable organizations.</p>
<p>That said, from time to time there is randomness that creeps into the process, and some of the “recruiters” can turn out to be jerks, or idiots. Probably 90% of the time that is not the case. So if you have some bad interviews or experiences, just keep working at it.</p>
<p>oldfort, you said “she was the first one to sign up online” - do they show the schedules online so that you can choose your slot? Just trying to get with the times.</p>
<p>In the olden days, we gathered in a mass outside the ballroom, in which tables were set up with sign-up sheets set upon them. Someone announced ‘go’ and eng. students rushed to stand in line at company X’s spot to sign up for an on-campus interview with company X, then they raced off to stand in line at the next sign-up spot for company Y. Much drama, plotting where to go first, second, etc.</p>
<p>(BTW I had 30 on campus interviews, 9 plant trips and 3 offers, to give you an idea of one person’s yield back then).</p>
<p>@treetopleaf - yes, you are a bit old school.
Now they inform students when they are selected for an interview via email. Those students then have access to online interview sign up. In the email, they will tell you when online access would be open. D1 would sit by her computer to wait for the appointed time.</p>
<p>D1’s school was very organized. Some of those firms did the first round and final round on campus. After first round, D1 would wait for email that evening to see if she was selected for the second round.</p>
<p>A lot of those firms she interviewed at received as many as 250+ resumes, they then selected ~30 for first round, and finally made offers to 4-6, and ended up with around 4.</p>
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<p>Uh, no. Not anymore.</p>
<p>At Oldfort’s daughter’s school, which is also my daughter’s school, there is an online system for applying for jobs. Announcements pop up, and students who are interested in a particular position must submit their resumes and other requested information online before a specified deadline. Sometimes, an announcement is issued only for students in a particular college or major (e.g., the College of Engineering only) or year (e.g., only juniors may be eligible for a particular internship). In such instances, it is impossible for anyone else to apply. The online system knows the student’s school, major, year, and other details and prevents ineligible students from submitting applications. </p>
<p>The next step is for the employer to determine which students it wants to interview on campus. After it does this, all the applicants receive “Accepted” or “Declined” e-mails from the on-campus recruiting system. The accepted students are given a date and time when the opportunity to sign up for interviews using the online system will become available. Those who want a particular time slot usually make an effort to be online the moment the sign-up starts, so that they can increase their chances of getting that time slot. The declined students cross this particular employer off their lists. I believe there are enough time slots for all the accepted students, although I am not sure. (There is also an online waiting list, to help ensure that the interviewer will have a full schedule of interviews even if some accepted students choose not to accept the interview invitation, but I won’t go into the complexities of that.) </p>
<p>For second-round interviews – or for first-round interviews conducted by phone or off campus – the process is more informal. Actual human beings call or e-mail the students to either arrange an interview or inform the candidate that he/she has not been accepted for an interview. (The latter messages are always sent by e-mail.) But the submission of applications and scheduling of on-campus first-round interviews is conducted entirely through an automated online system.</p>
<p>Welcome to the 21st century. I’m sure this is more detail than you ever wanted to know.</p>
<p>The key point here, I think, is that strategy doesn’t get you interviews anymore. Employers are in complete control of decisions about which students they will choose to interview.</p>
<p>Marian, we are rooting for your daughter to be very successful with on campus recruiting. Please keep us posted about her experience. My son is a junior and only looking for internship at this point. Your daughter’s experience with full time recruiting will be very helpful to us for next year.</p>