<p>This came up at dinner tonight (Sunday has become the "stop by the house to do laundry and get fed" day). DS, a rising senior chem E major, is beginning to think about starting the process. When older s was a senior, the job market was very hot.
We are in a very different job market climate. Older s's college did a fall and spring on-campus job fair. Younger s's school does one, but it apparently isn't very big or well attended by many companies, if I understand correctly. When is a good time to start applying? Is it too soon?</p>
<p>Bookmarked…</p>
<p>I can tell you when it is way too late–during your graduation week (yup, one of my kids).</p>
<p>I think starting this fall is not too early for something like a chemE major. A lot of the big companies that hire start looking in the fall for new graduates to start the next year at their company.</p>
<p>I would be curious as this thread evolves if the OP’s question could be addressed in terms of industries: (like ellemenope has done)…</p>
<p>We have heard there are different timelines for different majors/industries etc…</p>
<p>My niece (2010 graduate) was hired by the company where she interned. Had a job at a top consulting firm locked by November of her senior year. </p>
<p>A nephew (2010 graduate) got a spot in a prestigious market research firm’s training program a week after the program started last July. Oh wait. His dad had a lot of pull.</p>
<p>He shall apply soon after the start of the Fall term. My son is a rising senior at ASU. I checked recently the Career Link of ASU and found several major companies already posted about On Campus Recruitment for the coming Fall.</p>
<p>Echoing–Fall term.</p>
<p>Of course, positions can open up any time and companies recruit year-round, but I wouldn’t discount the importance of the fall job fair, esp. for larger companies.</p>
<p>One S got an offer from the company he interned at after junior year, and used that as leverage to poke the company he really wanted to work at. Got an offer by November of senior year.</p>
<p>I agree that the Fall term is when students should start applyting for jobs, especially if they want to work for a large company. My company hires many new college graduates (mainly engineers) a year, and by January, we are usually all set with our June new hires. </p>
<p>Remember, the process includes resume writing, resume screening, on campus interviews, on site interviews, and the decision process at the company, which may take a while if they are interviewing several candidates.</p>
<p>August.</p>
<p>On-campus recruiting usually starts with a September job fair, but the college’s online on-campus recruiting system may already be accepting listings, and there will probably be a burst of them in August.</p>
<p>It would also be a good idea to contact the university career center to find out when most of the recruiting for jobs in this particular career field takes place. Some industries do their interviewing earlier than others do.</p>
<p>My daughter, who graduated in May, got her job through on-campus recruiting. She started submitting applications through the online system in August, was interviewing on-campus and by phone by mid-September (for jobs that would start as much as a year later), and was traveling for on-site interviews in October. By November, she had a job lined up for after graduation. This may seem very weird, but it’s the way on-campus recruiting works for some industries. They recruit early.</p>
<p>For other industries, recruiting is not necessarily this early or concentrated in one time period. That’s why talking to the career center would be a good idea.</p>
<p>Of course, on-campus recruiting isn’t the only way to get jobs. But it is something that students shouldn’t overlook. </p>
<p>Also, in my opinion, the on-campus job fair is pretty much worthless. The real action is in the online on-campus recruiting system.</p>
<p>Marian, we don’t hire from the on-campus job fair. We send our reps so that students who may not have considered us as a target company will stop by, learn more about us, and then apply (online). It is unrealistic for any student to attend a job fair (whether a campus sponsored one or any of the industry sponsored fairs) and assume the purpose is to walk out with a job. It’s a very efficient way for kids to learn about a lot of employers in a very short period of time.</p>
<p>For years I sat next to the CIA booth at campus job fairs- it can take 2 years to get hired by the CIA what with background checking, laborious interview process, psychological workups, etc. But I was always amazed at the kids who’d stroll in and assume they’d get interviewed and hired on the spot!</p>
<p>Seniors should avail themselves of every vehicle their college offers. And by February it is really too late for a lot of industries, who are already gearing up for their next recruiting season (i.e. targeting kids who are juniors in college, not seniors.)</p>
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<p>Thank you for saying what I should have said.</p>
<p>One of my kids was surprised that you couldn’t start the job application process at an on-campus job fair. It doesn’t work that way anymore. But I can see how the job fair could be of value to students who are researching employers. Still, I’m not sure I would advise a student to attend a job fair if it means missing something academic that’s hard to make up (like a lab or a quiz). There are other ways to research companies.</p>
<p>I’ve been at job fairs which start at 11 am and run until 9 pm, just leaving the recruiters enough time to grab the last flight out at the airport.</p>
<p>I can’t imagine that a kid has tests and quizzes and labs which run all day although I’ve heard every excuse in the book from students. Kids who miss our resume drop-off deadline because they had a mid-term that day (we post our deadlines a few months in advance- really, you had a mid-term every day for two months so couldn’t upload your resume, a process which takes 30 seconds?) Kids who don’t attend our info sessions even though we are their top choice employer because they overslept. (we run three sessions per day on some campuses; the last one is usually at 7 pm.) Kids who can’t submit a transcript because the registrar is out sick (never mind that 99 of their peers at that same college managed to get the sick registrar to get them a copy!)</p>
<p>Job fairs are not the holy grail. But kids who claim that their college only helps find jobs in finance or in IT or in sales or in what-not are generally kids who could not be bothered to attend a job fair! And have no clue how many employers come to campus, happy to take time to explain what their organization does and why they like to hire kids from college X.</p>
<p>One child got his job through an on campus job fair by dropping off resumes and shmoozing with recruiters, and then became a recruiter for the company that hired him from the on campus recruiting. He was paid a certain amount per hire he made. (I think $1500).</p>
<p>He now is at his second engineering job, and while there are openings, no new grads are hired - only those with at least two years experience and Master’s degree. While he may have gotten his first job without a graduate degree, he says he wouldn’t have the current job, even with experience.</p>
<p>Just to echo what has already been said - I think much of this is industry- and major-specific, but it can’t hurt to hit the ground running in August/September. I told D to treat every job fair and every contact with a recruiter as a possible job opportunity - be polite, polished and professional. Have a resume ready (also polished and professional) and dress like you’re serious. Of course, in her field (accounting), most seniors get job offers from their summer internships after junior year, but if not, the job fairs start early early in the fall semester.</p>
<p>It seems our S started looking for a job when he started his SR year in EE. He had 3 job offers by January & signed with his employer in Feb. Some kids were hired from internships they did in summer before SR year. It’s a good idea to start sooner than later in this economy.</p>
<p>My cousin’s D was offered several full-time permanent jobs when she was doing an internship the summer after her freshman year in cinema but she declined as she wanted to complete her degree in cinema first.</p>
<p>Another vote for the answer: this really depends on the industry. For the field my younger son is interested in, on campus recruiting in September-October of senior year is critical (not job fairs - resume drops and on campus interviewing). For my older son, he sent out letters/resumes in December of senior year, interviewed in January and got an offer mid January; employers in the field he initially pursued out of college tend to interview in the late January - April time frame for June graduates.</p>
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<p>On the other hand, kids sometimes have legitimate excuses.</p>
<p>My daughter was accepted for a first-round on-campus interview with company X but could not schedule the interview because she had already scheduled a second-round, on-site interview with company Y on the same day and therefore would not be in her college community on that day. There was no possibility of rescheduling the company Y interview; all the arrangements, including travel reservations, had already been made. And there was no possibility of interviewing on-campus with company X on another day; their interviewers were only coming to her school for one day.</p>
<p>She called the contact person listed on the job announcement for company X and asked whether she could do a first-round telephone interview on another date instead. They said yes. The phone interview led to a second-round on-site interview with company X, which led to a job offer that she accepted.</p>
<p>I mention this because I don’t want kids who have legitimate reasons for being unable to conform to the time schedule of the recruiting process to just give up on the company in question. Sometimes, alternatives can be worked out if you have the nerve to ask. </p>
<p>Remember, the worst they can say is no.</p>
<p>Sometimes also, if you have a job offer with company X with a deadline by which time you need to give an answer & explain it to the other companies you’re also interested in, asking them when you can get a firm answer, sometimes company X may give you more time (if requested) & other other companies may speed up their decision-making. This worked for S as he was deliberating which firm to choose.</p>
<p>Hm, what if I am graduating a semester later (i.e. after Fall instead of after Spring)? Should I still go ahead and attend a job fair in the fall of my senior year or wait until the following fall semester (my last semester) and then explain I can start earlier than other graduates?</p>
<p>The latter when it comes to a career job. You can spend next summer at an internship perhaps? With luck, that might lead to a job after fall semester.</p>