Enthusiasm is Everything! Part 1

The end of the year is just around the corner. And with the end of the year comes the end of my time writing (occasionally) for OIT Career Services. Since I'm finishing up with school, it's only natural that I've been working on my own personal job search over the past year.

I've suffered quite a few defeats and celebrated some relative victories, and I would just like to share my story with the readers of this blog to support the sorts of things we read on career related websites. Some things may sound ridiculous and potentially risky for your job search, but the reality is that some things work, and can put you in position for some exciting opportunities.


Let me lead in by saying that I started my job hunt with very modest expectations. I didn't have any real career goals. I really didn't know what I wanted, and didn't care. I just wanted to make enough to pay off my student loans, and have a bit of expendable income left over after living expenses. What I didn't realize starting out is what type of environment I want - no, need - to work in. In a sense, this part of the blog is a sort of coming of age story.

Looking back now, I realize that my lack of energy and enthusiasm about my future was holding my down, and keeping me from really reaching the heights that I could potentially reach. Here's my story!


I had my first job interview with HP, who had come to OIT campus to recruit some of our grads. I was interviewing for a job that kind of skirted around all of the things I had experience with, and so I felt defeated from the start. I did, however, feel as though my personality could be a strong card to play during the interview. I think I accomplished what I set out to do there, but it was soon apparent that they were more interested in some of my classmates who have great personalities and a considerable amount more experience with the things they wanted experience with!

The important thing to remember after your first rejection (which is very likely to happen), is to not let it get you down too much. Yes, you can grieve for a bit, but it's important to jump right back on the horse and get back to it. I responded to my rejection my actively looking for internship and career opportunities on sites like Dice, Monster, OIT Career Services Online, and plenty of company-specific websites as well. I sent out only a few applications, however, because of the time commitment required to tailor a cover letter and resume was a little more than I felt could provide myself at the time. When I had no responses, I knew exactly why. I just didn't get my name out well enough.

So I went back and redesigned my resume and made myself a business card. I bought a domain for my website and put up some placeholders. I started writing for my personal blog, and such, and went back to my job search.

I stopped short when the Career Fair came around. I had talked to one of the recruiters from Mentor Graphics about some of the openings they had. This is when I realized the importance of networking. I had spoken with Eric Campbell basically every time he had come to OIT for a Career Fair since I can remember. I hadn't ever given him my resume, since I wasn't looking for work, but he knew my face, and he knew that I know people at Mentor Graphics also. We got to talking about some of my potential career interests, and somehow I ended up mentioning that I enjoy writing. He reached into his stack of papers and pulled out a Technical Writing job description.

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Technical Writing is sort of a secret interest that I have. Out of my five years here at OIT, I enjoyed my Junior and Senior project classes the most, and mainly when we were writing the documents for the project design!
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So I jumped right on this opportunity. I gave Eric my resume and my business card, which he passed onto a recruiter, who in turn passed it on to the group at Mentor Graphics who was hiring a Technical Writer. One thing I want to mention is that the job description once again skirted around my actual experience. But this time I felt like I had enough experience, and enough interest in the job description to really nail the interview that could potentially happen.

I was wrong. The phone interview came and went, and it turns out that I wasn't quite as sharp on the topics they wanted to hear about as I thought; even after studying for a few nights prior. This was my second outright rejection, and I was getting a tad impatient, especially since I wasn't getting responses from any of the other applications I had sent out.


How would I recover from this one? Well, it all came down to some sort of epiphany moment, which I will describe in my blog next week! Stay tuned!

Career Services Partner: Mentor Graphics

Joining the ranks of Career Services Partners this year is Mentor Graphics! Mentor Graphics is Wilsonville-based company, founded in 1981. The company has been recruiting on OIT's campus for years, and I personally know a few alumni who are currently happily employed with Mentor Graphics.

Here's a synopsis of what Mentor Graphics does - straight from their website:

Mentor Graphics® is a leader in electronic design automation. We enable companies to develop better electronic products faster and more cost-effectively. Our innovative products and solutions help engineers conquer design challenges in the increasingly complex worlds of board and chip design.

Basically, Mentor Graphics produces tools to assist other teams in designing Integrated Ciruits (IC) for applications such as System on Chip (SoC), and Printed Circuit Boards (PCB). Mentor Graphics is also the only Electronic Design Automation (EDA) company to offer embedded software design solutions. These services, plus the multiple other services Mentor Graphics offers all add up to make Mentor Graphics one of Oregon's largest companies, and also one of the largest Software companies in the world!


Mentor Graphics has been to nearly all of the Career Fairs that we've hosted since I started here at OIT. It's no secret that they love OIT graduates, and I think their usual recruiters would be among the first to admit that. Even if you aren't an OIT graduate, however, Mentor Graphics makes it a point to recruit recent graduates for both full-time positions and Internships or Co-Ops.

Working for Mentor Graphics means a few things. Employees can look forward to a results-oriented workplace where they are challenged to set and achieve goals, take responsibility to solve problems, and be rewarded for it all in the end! Mentor Graphics also wants you to be able to live, learn, and get involved. To help with this effort, Mentor Graphics offers a ton of benefits to its employees which include an excellent Higher Education Program, a Child Development Center, and more. Information on all of them can be found on the company website.


If Mentor Graphics sounds interesting to you, you can search through the current job opportunities at the Mentor Graphics career website!

Career Fair Keepsake - This is It!?

Some of the Career Services/SSC Crew

While the March 1st Career Fair is long past, the impressions made on both our students and the recruiters who attended will remain. This being likely my final OIT Career Fair as an office assistant here at Career Services, I made it a point to really work hard to get a good feel for how this Career Fair would be received.

We decided to switch up the format of this Career Fair just a bit, and I believe the changes will stick for future fairs. This time, we required students to register to attend. The change was inspired by multiple factors, and everyone hoped that it would remedy some issues from the past. This Career Fair would look less like an Information Fair and more like a proper Career Fair.

One of the most common accounts of negative feedback from recruiters over the years has been the lack of preparedness of our students come the day of Career Fair. Previously, it wasn't uncommon to see students showing up wearing t-shirts and jeans (and sometimes even kilts). The lack of professional attire would be accompanied by an unsurprisingly low number of resumes in circulation, and recruiters tend to frown at this fact.

Recruiters come to our Career Fairs looking to find potential future employees, and what they've seen in the past from a professional point of view, overall, hasn't been great. Requiring our students to register and have resumes prepared before the fair was a good step toward ensuring a more prepared group of students. This fair, undoubtedly, was considerably more impressive than fairs of the past.

Everyone was dressed professionally and came prepared with resumes to hand out to the attending recruiters. And those recruiters noticed. Every recruiter I talked to mentioned how prepared our students were this time. Sure, we had fewer overall attendees, but the quality of those who attended shined through.

Rentrak Corporation - here for the first time!

While, in the past, our students' Career Fair preparedness has been something to improve, one thing hasn't changed: OIT students are good at what they do. Recruiters return to our Career Fairs every year and say the same thing: OIT churns out quality professionals consistently. This feels great to hear no matter how many times I hear it, and it pleases me to boast about it every time.

First-time attendee, MasterBrand Cabinets, Inc, sent recruiters - one of which had this to say: "Overall: Very Good - Having the students do resumes, cards and appearance made a very good impression of your school. We were very happy to have been a part of today's job fair. Thank You"

No, thank you, MBCI, for the feedback, and for reassuring us that our students did a good job!

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Garmin AT is a regular at OIT Career Fairs

I love chatting it up with recruiters, no doubt. But the Career Fairs aren't just for them. Our students' satisfaction is just as important to us, if not more-so. I try to talk to a few students during each Career Fair, also. Usually the conversation degenerates to typical small-talk, but the impression that I've gotten from students in the past is that there weren't many opportunities presented by the recruiters. Recruiters would come and say "check out our website for job opportunities" or "we aren't currently hiring", and that doesn't make students very happy.

This Career Fair, somehow, turned out quite different. Most of the students I talked to mentioned to me that there were, in fact, more recruiters hiring for specific jobs or internships. Hearing this makes me happy for our students, as that little fact itself is a huge confidence booster for those who will be graduating in the near future. And while this isn't necessarily a direct result of our requiring students to register, that requirement could lead to more students having a greater chance at getting one of the jobs, or at least interviews with the companies who they spoke to.

One thing that is a direct result of the registration requirement, which students were very pleased with, is a much more relaxed atmosphere. Despite everyone being dressed professionally, and being more focused on scoring jobs, the smaller number of students circulating through allowed recruiters to offer more time to talk to individual students. This springs a ton of benefits for each student.

Mentor Graphics' Eric Campbell chatting with a student

Often times, when starting up a conversation with someone who you mean to make a good impression with, it's easy to tense up. Then you forget your name, what you wanted to talk about, any questions you may have already had prepared, and then you pass out. If you can make it past the passing out part, which most of us do, you can start to relax, get into a rhythm, and communicate more effectively.

In previous Career Fairs, there was no time to find that rhythm. In many cases, it was a get-in, say your name, ask a question, and then the recruiter would move on to the next guy kind of deal. This Career Fair was considerably different. I saw students chatting it up with recruiters for tens of minutes at a time, and as I found out, it was very casual chatting, not necessarily related to any particular job. This is called networking, and it's a great thing, and I'm glad our students had an opportunity to do it. Recruiters will remember someone they had a casual conversation with, and they're more likely to remember to pass the word onto hiring managers.

I even noticed some recruiters providing input on students' resumes!

Even though the Career Fair is meant to close up at 4:00pm, in the past, we'd have employers fully packed up and ready to leave BY 4:00pm. This was always a little disconcerting. This year, as Jan mentioned to me, is the first year that a Career Fair has gone all the way up to (and past) 4:00pm. Multiple employers were still talking to students at 4:00pm, and I even stayed afterward to talk to one of them. This, I think, is another great result of our registration policy. Whoever came up with the idea should get a cookie!

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Well, that's it for this post! I might have a little more to write about if we get more feedback forms in from recruiters. We'll see!

Oracle Still Wants YOU to Succeed!

In the last post, I covered some of the topics that Mallika, Manager of Oracle's ThinkQuest Competition, went over in her lecture here at OIT. I just want to wrap up that post with this one, which is mainly full of "et-cetera" material.

The ThinkQuest Application Development Competition is an annual competition which puts individuals into a small team tasked with developing a solution to a real-world problem. This tests each student's communication, critical thinking and technology skills... all of which are things I mentioned in the previous post. There are a bunch of divisions, but chances are that college students will most often fit into the 22 and under division. Competition for this year's event started in August, but it doesn't end until this April 27th. So there's still time to get into it!

Again, it's not so much about the competition as it is about developing your skills in all of the aforementioned areas, all of which can help you greatly in your job search!

Check out http://www.thinkquest.org/ for more information, and also keep your eye out for other competitions sponsored by other organizations!

Don't forget about your resume. I've seen a ton of resumes that are all function, with little focus on form. When you're diving into a market where hiring managers are looking at hundreds of resumes every week, it's important to find a way to make yours stand out at first glance. There are plenty of ways to do this right, but even more ways to do it wrong. This is another thing I will consider covering in the coming weeks. Keep a look out!

Mallika made sure to press the importance for innovation. Our world is constantly changing because of innovation, and it's definitely going in the positive direction. Taking an innovating approach to solving problems may take a bit more time, but the outcome can be well worth it. Employers all over the world are looking to innovate, and if you can bring that quality to the table, then you'll be among their first choices!

We're waiting on a video from Oracle of one of the lectures given elsewhere. When I receive it, I'll watch it and post it with another blog!

Oracle Wants YOU to Succeed!

Oracle is a well-known name in the IT world. Oracle is who businesses often look to for integrated software and hardware systems. But what they do for technology isn't really important in the context of this blog. Oracle hosts a program called Oracle Academy, which is purposed to exposing our younger generations to database and Java technologies.

Why is this important? Well, they also reach out to college-level students who are on their way into the industry. To do that, Oracle is running all over the country doing lectures for college students meant to prepare them for the industry. And while the lectures are directed to those of us in the computer industry, the same information can be useful to students moving into other industries.

A representative from Oracle Academy, by the name of Mallika, stopped by OIT today to do such a lecture. Mallika manages Oracle's ThinkQuest Application Development Competition (more on that later). The topics covered were brief, and sometimes could be left to common sense, but they are things that could be and should be said. Not only are they all important, but because they make sense, sometimes they're overlooked in favor of more complex issues with preparing yourself for your job-search.


The first thing Mallika covered is the importance of putting together some sort of "technology portfolio". Having been a college student for around four and a half years, I have the resources to put together quite a portfolio. You don't need four and a half years of school under your belt to make a good portfolio, though. All of those finished assignments that you should have saved throughout the years are perfect candidates to show both you experience in software design/development, and your problem-solving skills. These are, of course, two (not all) of the most important qualities found in good software engineers.

A proper portfolio will find its use in the interview. Chances are that you won't be able to simply "attach" it to your resume or your cover-letter. Additionally, you'll find that a portfolio isn't always a requirement in the interview. But it sure is a great thing to carry along. Think of it this way... you can use it to supplement your answers. One of the hardest questions to answer is "why do you think you are qualified for this job?" or something to that end. How classy would you be if you could pass a portfolio across the table and explain how that portfolio shows specific skills that would assist you in performing the job well? Real classy, if you ask me. Talk about having some real solid support for your words at the ready. Maybe I'll write a blog about putting the actual portfolio together in the coming weeks. Look for it!


Mallika also covered skills that employers find particularly useful, and how to develop those skills. To do this, she brought into the equation something that a lot of us overlook when we think about our work environments. The world is gradually moving toward a more globalized economy every day. With advancements in IT come changes in how we are able to interact with people. It's not uncommon to enter into a workplace where your team is scattered across the country, or even the world. Mallika mentioned that she has not met her team in person for nearly two years.

With that knowledge on the table, she expressed the need for each of us to be able to solve complex issues on our own. It's not always going to be possible to find someone on your team who can help you right when an issue arises, so being competent in solving your own issues is key.

So since that isn't something you can demonstrate in a short interview, Mallika added the top three traits that employers look for in their candidates. They're kind of self-explanatory but they are oh, so important: technological, communication, and critical thinking skills. Your proficiency in each of these will show through in the interview process whether you like it or not, and so it's a good idea to make sure you are on top of your game.

Mallika suggests a few resources for developing your skills in these areas. Of course, the first place you should look is Google. Searching for online application/software development competitions will bring up a load of ways to outlet your software development energy and build your skills at the same time! You can also look into the Microsoft Imagine Cup, Oracle's ThinkQuest Application Development Competition, and IBM's The Great Mind Challenge. It doesn't have to be about winning, naturally, it's about learning!


So this is turning into a huge wall of text. I'm going to continue with this in another blog!

Career Services Parner: Oregon Department of Transportation

Last week, I hosted a video conference between OIT students and ODOT on the topic of summer internship applications. Blake Dye, our contact with ODOT was nice enough to share a ton of pointers for our students in order to boost their chances of landing an internship or even employment at ODOT this summer. Of course, some of the tips he shared with us could easily apply to any other job.

Naturally, before being able to apply to any job, you need to know what the job is. If you're interested in ODOT particularly, you can find their jobs at http://www.odotjobs.com. Believe it or not, the jobs aren't exclusive to Civil Engineering majors. In the video conference, Blake asked everyone for their declared major. He wasn't expecting a room only occupied with Civil Engineers! I've seen job listings on their website for plenty of other majors. Take a look!

The next step is to put together a resume. I would suggest starting one from scratch specifically for ODOT, since they're pretty well-set on their requirements. Keep in mind that what I'm writing about is stuff that Blake suggested, so it's probably a good idea to follow it!


The top portion of your resume is about you, not your qualifications. Blake suggested spending the first 1/3 of your sheet going over your Name, Hometown, Expected Graduation Date, your Major and then a brief summary of who you are and what you can do. The summary should be between 2 and 3 lines and include things like whether you prefer to work outdoors, indoors, travel, etc. Are you good at anything specific in your field, etc. Really focus on the section that mentions the fact that preference will be given to candidates that meet a certain profile. They're looking for this stuff.

Next up are your relevant skills. These are skills that tie in very closely to the job listing. One thing Blake mentioned is to include everything that could be relevant; no exception. Put Microsoft Office products on there if you know how to use them. Again, pay attention to what they're looking for, and be SURE to list how your related skills.

The next section is for relevant [job field] experience. Yes, keep it narrowed down to your experience in the job field that you're applying to work in. You will likely be working as some sort of engineer for ODOT, and so most of the time, you'll be adding your relevant engineer experience. This is anything and everything that you have done in your field. Put your senior project on there, volunteering, other unpaid internships, paid internships, part time or full time work - anything that is related to the job that you're applying for.

With what room you have left, you're going to share other experience that you might have. It doesn't have to be engineering or whatever related. This is nowhere near as important as your relevant experience, but it will show other skills that you have that can assist you in doing your job successfully. If you worked as a store manager at Ross or something, put it in there. But try to keep it narrowed down to work experience, because...

...the next, and last part of your resume is for extra curricular activities. This is stuff like playing on sports teams, being a part of a club and doing activities, math competitions, whatever. Dig deep into your memories and ask your friends! You could find plenty of things to put here, but remember. The focus should be on your relevant experience.


One reason why we're always encouraged to tailor our resumes to the job posts is because employers want to know that you're actually reading the job post. They want to know that you know what you're applying for, and that you actually want the job they listed. Because of today's saturated market of candidates, it's necessary for them to weed out those who are trying to get on a train that's going to the wrong city. That is, they don't want to consider people who are applying for a job that isn't for them.

It's okay to have a generalized resume, but if you're applying to a specific job posting, you need to be sure you're proving to the employer that you want and are qualified to do the job listed.


ODOT job posts come with a list of supplemental questions. Generally, these questions are tailored to the specific job, and help them learn more about you as a candidate. With that said, don't short change these questions!!!! The more you can write about yourself for each open-ended question, the better! If you leave it at two or three sentences, all it shows them is that you didn't care enough about the job to spend the time writing a legit answer. This is something Blake was very, very clear about. Don't sell yourself short by being short with the questions!!!


Also remember that you aren't competing with the employer for the job. You're competing with other students around the *world*. There is a huge market for candidates for any job. It's not hard for employers to generate interest in a job, and it isn't hard for employers to find someone to say yes to. Your challenge is to make it hard for them to say no to you.

Oh yeah. Don't forget to include a transcript.

Good luck!

The Five Course - Come and Get It!

Coming this February 11 - The Five Course!

Come and learn how to dine with members of the industry and learn how to make an ace impression while you're dining! If you're in the market for the job, you could very possibly find this useful, as it's common for recruiters and hiring managers to invite candidates out to dinner. Rest assured, though, that by dinner they mean interview!

If you're wondering what this even is all about, you should first read my accounts of last year's Business Etiquette Dinner. The details may change, but the overall goal is the same: get you ready for dining with professionals.

Here are the previous articles:
Etiquette Keepsake - How to Eat your Dinner
Etiquette Keepsake - How to Eat your Dinner, Part 2

Have a look, and sign yourself up on Career Services Online! The fee is $10 per head, and I have to say that's not bad for a five-course meal!

Oh by the way, the name was my idea!