I am writing this as I deal with the downtime usually associated with Thursday mornings.... I just realized I have exactly 5 weeks until my internship starts. It is rather incredible to think about September, when it all began.
Not once before the '08 recruiting season (Sept-Oct) did I attend a formal event offered by a Big 4 accounting firm, I had heard enough about how awkward and scary they were from my friends on campus. Something compelled me to dress up, prepare and attend the ones going on last year... maybe my fear for graduating to join the unemployment line was greater than my fear for awkward meetings with auditors? I think so.
Now think about this: 300 eager business students in the same room with 15 auditors, who want to recruit for around 15 interns and the same number of full time junior staff - trust me, it's uncomfortable. Once you add a worldwide economic meltdown to the mix, bringing consulting and Investment banking recruiting down (more on these on a future post) you get a very .uhh .. let's say desperate.. group.
Needless to say I was very lucky to land several interviews, which were by no means expected. My combined preparation for these events only took a few hours, but what a huge difference it made. I can tell you I learned an incredible amount of techniques for networking/approaching strangers/seeming eloquent and smart when you're just another business major, which somehow left a good impression on some of these seasoned professionals. I'll get on these later, as I was just assigned to a new project at work 10 mins ago- long day ahead...
