Do They Have Cotton Candy at Your Career Fair?

Back in March, my University began advertising its big Spring Career Fair! Finally, some hope for those of us with still no answer to the ‘So what are you going to do next year?’ question on the tip of every adults tongue. Unfortunately this year, unless you had already applied to medical school, most of my friends were still in the ‘Not sure yet’ boat. At least I had company in there right?
A few days before the career fair, when we all had our resumes printed and our interview suits dry-cleaned, the university released the schedule for the three-day event. The schedule had a map of where the different booths would be, who would be at what booths, and what time each company was scheduled to be there. The schedule was made up of a few different documents, and that the information was organized in multiple ways- so that every student could easily find the needs that matched their criteria.
Well, as I’ve mentioned before, there was no film school at my university. No media department, no advertising, television, marketing, radio, or production. Plus, the journalism school helps the journalism students, the business school helps the business students, and the theatre school helps the theatre students.
As a part of the Individual Studies Department, there isn’t really an alumni system that can help out, because the alumni didn’t necessarily study the things you are studying. So it is really up to you to forge the road ahead and make your plans for the upcoming year. Now my roommate (lets call her ‘the honors history student of the year’ to sum up all of her awards in one title) and I looked through the lists for the career fair, and found not a single thing appropriate to either of our job searches. But we were not about to let the system beat us down. She expressed her disappointment to me and grew jealous of friends at other private institutions who had received perfect positions from career fairs specifically geared towards the students and their interests. With that note of inspiration, I began to search for career fairs happening at other universities in the metropolitan area. And by metropolitan area, I mean- schools we could get to using the metro.
I thought it was a pretty snazzy idea. Until I found out that these career fairs are not just something you can walk into with your heels on and your briefcase of resumes. They check ID's, to make sure that they are only helping out their own students.
So we were stuck with our own career fair. The one with all the government jobs and 'consulting' positions. Now seriously, what does it really mean to be a consultant?

*No offense to any consultants out there. I just really don't get what your job does. If you can explain it to me though. I will publicly apologize for questioning your career choice.

The Big Dipper AND The Little Dipper

So I have been getting a lot of feedback from readers saying that I am reaching too far and expecting too much. Not only have I been qualified for every job I have applied for, but as I’ve responded to one doubting reader, how else am I supposed to eventually land the dream job? While I may be reaching for the stars, I have not zoomed exclusively passed everything else. It just so happens, that in this economy- it seems that only the big names still have any money to pay even minimum wage. Mind you, its minimum wage and nothing else, but at least they provide more than a ‘monthly metro card and lunch’.

Still though, at this point I am open to any experience, even if it means I live in the subway and eat only the middle meal.

On another slow job posting day last winter, I decided to see what I could find in places that weren't necessarily looking to hire. By my reaching out, they might be able to find a spot for me- or at least know how to find me if they ever have a spot. But how to find these places?
In addition to searching New York production companies in Google, I wanted to find a list of actual potential contacts in the media field.
Well, my university didn’t, and still doesn’t, have a film program. But that’s what happens when you go into college as ‘undecided’ and then realize when you have to ‘decide’, that you have decided on something that isn’t offered. No matter for the determined and creative right? I created my own major. But that’s another story. This story is starts off with the thought ‘what might have been’.

I couldn't get too much help from my school, so I tried to think outside the box. What if I had gone to a different school that could help me? Ideally, I supposed, if I had known what I wanted to do when I was applying to schools, I would have applied to NYU. And if I had gotten in and done what I wanted to do, I guess I would have gone to Tisch. There went the light bulb over my head.

I went on the NYU Tisch website. I searched around for a while, until I found a list of places that Tisch students intern and eventually get jobs. I looked up every name and ever company on that list, found their contact email and information, and emailed them my cover letter and resume. While it still hasn’t netted me a job, the names I am continuously adding to my contacts are going to make my little black book quite valuable one day.