The Hunt Begins!

Career Fair came and went this past Friday in a flash. Before I knew it I had a chronological portfolio in the works, a presentation worthy portfolio for screen sharing, and a long list of updates across platforms. This job hunt is I’m sure going to be as interesting as last years.

Most things are still online including Career Fair. The school decided to use the Handshake platform this year. A few weeks in advance firms began to post online chat slots and students started booking them up. Resumes were submitted two weeks ahead of the fair. Portfolio was arranged quickly after. Daily firm research, practicing my elevator pitch, and prepping questions for the firms were just a few exercises I used to prepare for career fair.

What I wasn’t prepared for was the technical difficulties of the Career Fair. Handshake had an integrated video conference calling platform. In large group sessions many had disabled the video/audio features limiting an individuals engagement to chat only. Individual sessions would only allow you to join once. So with my iPad I could share video and audio but screen sharing is a little hit or miss. Joining my desktop meant I would be able to share screen and show off my portfolio and resume but not talk to the firm. I fully anticipated we would be using zoom links, as we had been for our classes, which would have avoided these issues.

Only one firm I talked to had arranged the handshake link to open a proper zoom link. So this firm was the only one to achieve the full career fair experience. I hope that this issue is solved for next years career fair. The online platform is nice and opens the event up to more people. Regardless of the technical errors, the conversations were informative and engaging. I feel like I learned more than in years prior where portfolio dominates the conversation as opposed to the firm culture and work style.

Career Fair checked off the list, and all the basics prepared, it’s officially time for the Job Hunt to begin! I have my eye on a few firms that can offer me the opportunity to become licensed as both a landscape architect and architect while exploring a range of designs. So to family, friends, interested parties I am all ears for interesting, integrated design opportunities. Best of luck to those also on the Job Hunt!