You Schmooze, You...Win

The annual Office of Career Services Career Forum included the usual big names: the CIA, Abercrombie & Fitch, NASA, and... Lehman Brothers?... Oh, wait.

While many students and recruiters were out in full force at Gordon Track last Friday, lots of the big finance companies failed to make an appearance at the Office of Career Services Career Forum. But that’s not to say that the rockin’ fair was full of doom and gloom.

One company that seemed determined to keep the good times coming, despite the plunging economy, was Facebook.

“Everyone is very smart, very passionate, and... we have Facebook prom!” University Recruiting Representative Marcia Velencia says. Think of it as prom, but with socially awkward computer programmers replacing socially awkward teenage boys.

Another web attraction was Google—this most popular search engine is celebrating its ten-year birthday extravaganza.

Google fan Sonam S. Velani ’09 had a relatively relaxed approach to the fair, saying “Come here, get your free stuff, schmooze a bit, and get on with your life.” But, like any good OCS acolyte, Velani wasn’t too zen about it, advising career fair attendees to “get contact info and e-mail one on one.”

Maintaining a surprisingly sunny outlook, Rossen D. Kralev ’09 says, “Hedge fund people are a lot of fun.” (We’re guessing that depends on your definition of fun.)

And for the attendees who were actually worried about, you know, getting a job, OCS had a remedy: the fair featured the appropriately-named Relaxation Station, which featured a fishing booth and the promise of a slinky to any successful fisherman.

“It’s the place for you to channel your inner kindergartner,” said Robin E. Mount, the interim director of OCS. Forget about your lack of employment prospects and pick up some Play-Doh!