Post-Job Fair Thoughts

When I was watching TV last week in Champaign, I saw a commercial: "Is not having your high school diploma preventing you from getting the job you want?" Hmmm..... Well, something is preventing me from getting a job, but it's definitely not the lack of a high school diploma. I even got a college degree, for what it's worth. If you wanna see the diploma, it is probably somewhere underneath that giant pile of papers on my desk.

Anyways, as anybody who reads my blog regularly and carefully should know, I was down in Champaign this past week for the Engineering Career Expo (or whatever it's called), looking for some sort of engineering-related job. By the way, much thanks to BrotherD and his roommates for letting me crash at his apt. That was extra generous and I will hit you back for that Jack's Deluxe Frozen Pizza when I get the chance.

The expo was a little bit better than last year, as far as company attendance goes, but overall it was just about as pointless. There were fewer empty tables, but this is probably because this time around, companies already know they suck, and they were able to plan ahead with their suckiness in mind. Last year, the companies just kind of made plans to go to the fair, weeks or months before their financial situation took yet another unexpected dive. Then 9/11/01 came and threw more confusion into the mix. The result was many empty tables at the 2001 Expo and a extreme dearth of hiring.

This year, I was already somewhat mentally prepared for more of the same, with the economy still sputtering like it has been the past few years. I talked to some companies, handed out my share of resumes, and even got a little bit of free stuff too, just for kicks and giggles. But the overwhelming feeling that I got was that companies were still not serious about hiring. They were probably more just attending the fair for their company name, maybe taking a couple interns here and there, and keeping an eye out for that guy with a 4.0 GPA, president of the Engineering Council and College Republicans, interned with the CIA and the U.S. Navy, that studied abroad for two years while volunteering to help poverty-stricken sheep-shearers in Lithuania or something. By the way, that's not me. My GPA is more in the 3.3-3.4 range, I'm not president of anything important (unless you count the United States haha), and I absolutely despise those sheep-shearer lowlifes.

A couple companies seemed a little interested, but I'm not really holding my breath because you never really know what those company representatives are really thinking. I really wonder sometimes. Maybe someday I will be in the position as a hiring manager or something, that might be fun. First I would give all my friends jobs, then I would look for that 4.0 GPA sheep-lover student and tell him that we were looking for someone with more leadership qualities. I'd go to these fairs just for the free food, then be stingy with giving out the free flashing balls and hog them for myself. The most efficient idea would be to sit there at the table with a sign that says "visit InterviewTrak and look us up on www.google.com for more information," then point to it every time someone approaches your company booth.

Oh well, if I get any interviews soon, you will all know how it goes. Other than the fair, the week went ok. I was pretty sick for the first few days, so that wasn't too cool. I think I might have lost about 10 pounds again, sweet eh. But people might get a laugh out of the fact that I actually took some medicine this time. First, I tried a little bit of Triaminic. That didn't really do much as far as I could tell, but it tasted nice. Then I tried some Sudafed-type stuff to clear up sinus congestion, which I think might have been helpful. There were also some pretty cool lemony cough drops I had too. I kind of wish somebody had some 'tussin though. But yeah, before everyone starts judging me as some sort of hypocrite, just know that this was a special situation. I went down specifically to the job fair, so I couldn't really be lying in bed every day of the week until I got better. If you go back and read my PMS blog carefully, then you would see that I specifically said "... I do understand that in today's world, there are times when you can't afford to lose a couple days to illness and taking a Tylenol is worth it." Anyways, I only had a couple doses, not every 4 to 6 hours or whatever it was. And I recovered pretty quick too.

Also, I definitely stick to what I said about Kleenex and how it should not be so soft and pampering your nose when you are sick. I must have blown my nose about 900,000 times in the past week, with everything from toilet paper and napkins to paper towels (emphasis on "paper"). But I took it all like a man, and my skin didn't even peel one bit. I think I have conditioned that skin around my nose to be tough as sandpaper by now. Yeah, even the strongest paper towels tremble in fear to be blown by my nose, the king of them all.

As I write, my little stopwatch/alarm I got from Honda at the fair keeps going off periodically, and I threw away the instructions so I don't know how to turn it off. Stupid Honda, I never liked them anyways. They will not be receiving my customership nor employment anytime soon unless this silliness is rectified.

I still miss college life on campus, but it was cool just to experience it again for a few days. Any longer, and I would find myself living in the past like that guy in Can't Hardly Wait (what's his name again?). It's nice to finish your biznass in the early afternoon and be able to do whatever afterwards. I played some catch, chilled on the Quad and Union, even stopped by this special name-brand clothing discount thing at the Chancellor Hotel with Chras one day. Too bad it was mostly girls clothes and I don't like Structure/Express anymore. If I remember to, one of these days I might tell the story of why I stopped getting stuff from Structure way back in senior year of high school. Anyways, in no time I found myself back to the unhealthy eating and irregular sleep schedule of years past, as well as watching music videos all day and all 2,136 daily showings of SportCenter.

Green Street looks good, but it does not justify all the annoying construction we had to go through last year. Let me get this straight - they close off the busiest street on campus for a few months, make life miserable for drivers, pedestrians, and Green Street businesses, and spend a few million tax dollars for what? Sidewalks that are a little wider, but who cares? Walk/Don't Walk signs that count down the seconds left? A street that is more difficult than ever to drive through, that's for sure. I know what they could've done with the money, give some to me.

I can still login to the Union and EWS computers, which is nice. But I dread the day when I try to check my jychen UIUC email and it says "Account Invalid" or something, that will be a slap in the face. I never really used access to those labs like the school meant me to, though. All the free printing was either wasted entirely each semester, or used to print up fantasy baseball information. And most of the time I logged into EWS was to check my email or sports scores, not to do work in UNIX or use any of the programs like PSPICE or MATLAB. I'm such an awesome student.

I didn't get to visit Grainger like I wanted to, but I'll get my chance eventually. I haven't quite reached the point in my life yet when me and P can go back, haul some huge speakers into the big room on the 2nd floor, and blast Rage Against The Machine's "Bulls on Parade" at maximum volume. Someday, though, someday.

By the end of last semester, I was pretty tan from being outside all the time. But one summer's worth of being indoors all the time has pretty much all but negated that. I am once again just a pale skinny kid.

Ah, good old University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. We had our good times and bad. I'll be back, don't worry.