Third in an occasional series about On-Campus Recruiting.
Recent Engineering graduate Matthew Waddell just had his first second-round interview last week as he continues his hunt for post-college employment.
As a participant in the University's On-Campus Recruiting process, Waddell has realized that the more interviews he does, the better he gets at them.
The Daily Pennsylvanian is following Waddell and College senior Candace Morris through the OCR process, a program run through Career Services that brings business organizations to campus to hire students for full-time jobs as well as summer internships.
Waddell and Morris both began submitting job applications in September.
They waited nearly two weeks to receive notice of an invitation to a preliminary interview.
After three interviews, Waddell was asked to participate in a second round of interviews by two companies.
During the first round, companies "ask why you'd be the best candidate and to explain your strengths," Waddell said. "The second round ... tends to become more specific to the job and related fields."
To prepare for his next interview, Waddell did everything from reading The Wall Street Journal to working on annunciating his nouns and verbs.
"I'm going to go in there and put on a show," he said.
Morris, however, was not invited to an interview by the marketing firm that was her first choice. She is still waiting to hear from the other companies to which she applied.
Upon learning that she was not invited to interview, Morris said she felt frustrated. She added, however, that she had not had high hopes.
Morris feels that her lack of experience in marketing hurt her application.
Students having difficulty with the recruiting process should stay hopeful, Associate Director of Career Services Barbara Hewitt said.
It is important to remember that "there are seven months until graduation," Hewitt said. "Life isn't over, but sometimes it can feel that way."
When students have trouble getting interviews, Hewitt encourages them to expand their interests. This includes applying for more types of positions as well as taking extra classes and seeking more internships.
Many companies also tend to hire students closer to graduation, she said.
Furthermore, it is easier to obtain interviews during the second semester, as more students receive jobs and the candidate pool grows smaller.
Of the Wharton School's Class of 2004, 73 percent received job offers during the fall semester, while over 97 percent received offers before graduation.
Sixty-four percent of College of Arts and Sciences students in the Class of 2004 had jobs before graduating. Information for the Engineering and Nursing schools was not available.
The figures for the Class of 2005 have not yet been compiled.
