We started this week off with Corporate presentations. It was very much like everyone said it would be. Company 1 started at lunch time. There was a huge line at the sign in table before we even got into the room. I tried to hang back a bit to observe what the second years were doing and to get a feel for the process. The first company was pretty laid back. They offered us a take-away lunch and gave a short speech from executives and second year students. Some of the first years were pretty bad and it reminded me a lot of the horror of Mocktails from last week. One person actually asked the recruiter, “So, what do you want us to do at these things?” It was mortifying.
On the other hand, it makes me look pretty good.The second company in the evening went with a cocktail party feel. It was designed to be splashy and impressive and I think many first-years fell for it. I took the opportunity to ask a lot of dumb questions and I think I got something out of it.
Classes are gearing up. I can see that the pain of the whole process is going to be group meetings. They aren’t inherently bad. But trying to coordinate the schedules of several people and then be effective in the hour you’ve finally arrived at through process of elimination is no small feat. An interesting part I didn’t anticipate is how many people would want you in a group. I’d heard stories of people looking up your background in the facebook and trying to leverage your knowledge for the team grade. I thought surely it couldn’t be that pathetic. I was wrong.
I am still having trouble remembering names and have just resigned myself to smiling and nodding. I’ll catch on eventually, I guess. I’m already getting good at discriminating. It’s not about what is interesting anymore. Everything is interesting. What can I fit in? It’s great to have so many options of things you actually want to do.