Inside Purdue Fort Wayne

Be Prepared to Network

Obviously you’ll want to dress professionally, but spending some time planning ahead for the specific challenges of a job fair can help you be more comfortable and successful.

Avoid bogging yourself down with personal items; carry only what you need, and organize it so that you’re able to shake hands with recruiters without having to fumble around with your belongings. This can help you avoid fidgeting and keep your body language open and approachable.

You’ll also want to wear comfortable shoes that you can stand and walk in for the duration of the job fair.

Research the Company

Job fairs are great because you get to talk to an actual person right away – not go into a stack of resumes to be skimmed. However, you’ll need to do some preparation ahead of time to be successful.

Take a moment to put yourself in the recruiter’s shoes. While you’re job-hunting to satisfy your financial and career goals, the recruiter is looking for people who can benefit their company. They’re going to talk to a lot of people.

Between a candidate that seems to be looking around aimlessly for literally any job and a candidate that is knowledgeable about the company’s business and industry, the well-researched candidate is naturally going to seem like a better fit.

Take some time before the career fair to look up the companies attending, select the ones you’re most interested in, and research them. You might look at current events in their industry, their company values, past projects they’ve done, or the products they offer. If you think of a question during your research, keep it in mind to ask during your conversations with the recruiter. 

Be Interview Ready

Your resume is only one part of the equation; the opportunity for an instant interview is both the biggest benefit and challenge when it comes to job fairs.

Handing the recruiter your resume at the beginning of the conversation rather than the end will give them the opportunity to use your experience and skills to lead the conversation if they choose. However, it’s likely they’ll ask you some form of “Tell me about yourself.” Don’t be caught by surprise by this!

Walk in ready to explain who you are and why you’re interested in the company; if the recruiter asks what you’re looking for, you’ll have more luck if you can offer more specifics than just saying “a job.”

You may also want to prepare a few questions for the recruiter, but stay away from overly basic information that can easily be found online. (For example, “What does [Company X] do?”) Instead, ask about the recruiter’s experiences with the company or the culture.

Follow Up

Once you leave the job fair, don’t forget to follow up. Recruiters and hiring managers are busy people and might end up dealing with other things, even though they have your resume. Don’t be nervous about contacting them; a single, concise follow up won’t annoy them.

Snag the recruiter’s business card and shoot them an email within a day or so and thank them for speaking with you. This is also an opportunity to express your interest in another interview or ask questions if you ran out of time or thought of something later. Mentioning specific things you like about the company or topics that you discussed can help you be a memorable candidate.

You may also want to add recruiters on LinkedIn. Even if you aren’t interested or don’t get an offer from their company, recruiters have connections with other people in their industry.

If there’s an online application, don’t forget to fill that out in addition to submitting your resume. Depending on the company, this may be necessary to move forward.

Inside IPFW: What did you work on this summer?

Scott: There’s this instrument, which is NASA’s term for satellite, that’s going to be going up in 2020 called RBI (Radiation Budget Instrument), assuming no budget errors. It’s the successor to a current instrument, CERES. (Clouds and the Earth’s Radiant Energy System.)

Basically, they both look at the incoming radiation to Earth, the outgoing radiation from Earth, and whether that radiation is being reflected or emitted. That can tell us a lot about things like where energy is landing on Earth from the sun, how to collect it, it can verify information about global warming, all kinds of cool stuff.

RBI is going to have a much more precise reading than its predecessors.

For example, say you wanted to know what’s doing the most to reflect light. When light is being reflected it doesn’t really warm the Earth up that much. When light is being emitted, it’s much warmer. If you wanted to know what’s really doing the most to reflect light, that will help you prioritize what to save or what to protect if you’re trying to cool the Earth down.

I wrote some software that’s going to be used to interpret the data.

I was also tasked with anything related to the project that it would be easier for me to do because of my familiarity with it. For example, I was asked to build and label and set up a CAD drawing of the same device in addition to the telescopes that were looking at it.

In the last couple of weeks, I was asked to add a few more elements of geometry, which ended up doubling the amount of code in one of the functions. I had to write. It must have been 300 lines to get that added on and it fit perfectly then.

In the end, the code itself was pretty simple once I knew what to do. Most of the work was figuring out what to write, A) deciding on what would actually represent reality, B) figuring out an algorithm to implement it, and C) knowing how to integrate that into the code.

Inside IPFW: So basically, you wrote code that will look at how different areas of the Earth absorb or reflect light, radiation, heat, and so on in order to make recommendations about what to prioritize. Is global warming the only area of concern for this project?

Scott: Not at all. CERES was started even before global warming was a concern to the general public. The main benefit is knowing where and how solar energy is landing on Earth and getting absorbed to reflect it. This is useful not just in terms of global warming, but also understanding the driving forces behind our weather systems, because radiation influences changes in the weather. It helps understand the Earth’s ecosystem.

Inside IPFW: How’d you go about getting this job?

Scott: I didn’t think I’d get in, honestly. I just went through NASA’s internship website. They have effectively a huge database of openings where they feel an intern would be able to fill in and help or provide some benefit.

Inside IPFW: NASA is located in Hampton, Virginia. Did you get to do anything fun while you were there?

Scott: Oh, yeah! The area is very proud to have NASA there with everything they’ve accomplished. They have things like the Air and Space Center, a bunch NASA related items because NASA Langely was the start of it all. In fact, they celebrated their centennial while I was there. They have this huge rig where Neil Armstrong actually personally trained to pilot the lander.

Beyond that, there’s the Virginia Living Museum which is basically a weird hybrid of a museum and a zoo. One of my favorite examples is that they have a sample of a fossil reef and a recreation of what that would look like in the modern day with real fish, real algae, and real coral. There’s also historic Williamsburg; with Virginia being all the way on the east coast, they have a lot of stuff from the revolutionary war and get a lot of history from that.

What was your favorite thing about working at NASA?

Scott: Definitely my bosses. They were the reason I was able to work on a real actual honest to goodness project. A lot of interns, even at NASA, end up working on what amounts to busywork. I came in expecting pretty much the same and that was almost our plan. I was given a sort of placement test to figure out what I could actually accomplish. I knocked it out over the course of a meeting; Apparently I did well enough that they thought I could contribute to a real project.

I think the main thing I want to say is that I was really lucky to have such a great program going at NASA and that I am still so grateful to my mentors for giving me this amazing project to work on.

Get Involved

One of the hardest parts about starting college is the way your social life changes. 

It’s common for new college students to feel lonely or homesick in the first few weeks of their Freshman year, but it doesn’t have to be permanent. 

How to Make New Friends (And Take Over the World):

·         Ask People Questions. Not sure how to strike up a conversation? Ask people open questions about themselves. Where are you from? What class are you most excited about? What do you do for fun? Odds are you’ll find something to talk to sooner rather than later.

·         Embrace Diversity. If you limit yourself to talking to people with your same major, age, gender, and background, you’re going to miss out on a lot of really cool people. Focus on finding common ground; if nothing else, you have school in common.

·         Be Active About Making Plans. Everybody knows that one person who ends up organizing everything…and if that person’s not around, nothing happens. It’s time for you to become that person. If you want a study group or someone to pal around with at a basketball game, take the initiative and make it happen.

·         Join Cubs. Events like Freshman Fest and Welcome Back Week are great ways to find  student organizations that interest you. Pick a few clubs that seem fun and don’t forget about degree-specific clubs. Groups like the Pi Math Club, Ceramics Club, and American Society of Civil Engineers help you meet upperclassmen in your major, who can save your life when it comes to advice about classes and work.

Bored?

There’s a million things going on around campus and in Fort Wayne, but it’s up to you to take advantage of them.

·         Check the IPFW Event Calendar for campus events.

·         Connect with the IPFW Social Media accounts for campus news.

           Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Snapchat: GoIPFW

·         Pick up a free copy of The Communicator, the campus newspaper.

·         Check WhatzUp and the Fort Wayne Event Calendar for local events.

·         Become a flyer fanatic – make a habit of reading flyers to find things to do. Look around on campus and around town and you’re sure to find something fun!

Stay Informed

The transition away from a joint Indiana University-Purdue University campus is an emotional topic for many people, but no matter how you feel about the split, being informed will help you make the best decisions about your education. Don’t rely on rumors to know what’s going on.

Gather information from a variety of sources like local news outlets, press releases, and emails from the university and make sure you think critically.

Give Yourself Time To Succeed

Take advantage of academic advisors and plan ahead to make sure you graduate on time. Depending on your program, you may have to be careful to make sure you take prerequisites or courses that aren’t offered every semester. Starting early gives you time to get answers to your questions.

Learn Your Life Skills

Money Management

There’s a good chance your finances are a lot more complicated than they were in high school, and money is one of the fastest ways to get in trouble in college. Set up a budget. Whether you use an app like Mint or write it out by hand each month, you’ll be glad you did.

Time Management

Put some effort into developing a time management system that works for you. Like with money, this varies from person to person, but it’s crucial for staying on top of tests and large projects. Look ahead far enough to figure out what you need to do to reach deadlines – many of your assignments can’t be done in one night.

Taking Care of Your Health

Don’t skimp on sleep.

Sleep is crucial for academic performance, as it affects your ability to focus and form memories. Be proactive about time management to avoid needing to give up sleep to do schoolwork.

Make exercise a priority in your life. Exercise improves your ability to concentrate and cope with stress.

Focus on finding fun ways to fit exercise into your life instead of forcing yourself to go to the gym if you don’t like it. Try out different types of exercise until you find one that you genuinely like. Intramural sports are a great way to exercise, with the added bonus that they help you make friends on campus.

With some effort, you should be able to hit the ground running at IPFW.

Welcome Back Week runs from August 21st - 25th, so make sure to show up for giveaways and events to start the year with a bang. You can also (safely!) view a solar eclipse with the Physics Department on Monday, August 21.

The fun doesn’t stop at the end of Welcome Back Week. In past semesters, Inside IPFW proudly featured our amazing students and student orgs, not to mention their photos of Don life. (Campus squirrels, anyone?) We dished out the inside scoop on the best spots to nap on campus and how to use the 3D printers, and the next year will be no different – keep an eye on the blog for event details, campus news, and advice on getting the most out of your time at college.