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Wednesday 28 January 2015

How to Survive a Recruiting Event


This past week, I went to my very first recruiting event at Sheridan College. Against everyone’s advice, I didn’t spend time researching the companies who were going to be there. I didn’t update my resume, I didn’t design eye-catching business cards, and I didn’t take the time to make sure that my blazer was wrinkle-free. But these are all small details. Last Wednesday, I learned that the most important thing about recruiting events is not how you look or what you bring, but how you present yourself to potential employers. So in this blog post, I’m going to let you in on the dos and don’ts of recruiting events. Consider this post a Career Development advice column from someone who really, really knows what they are doing. If you haven’t already guessed, I learned most of these the hard way.

  • Don’t pretend you know what a company does when you really don’t. I thought I could get away with saying “I have certainly seen some of the advertisements your agency produces, but I have yet to discover what philosophies and corporate practices make the company so successful and unique”. To this, the recruiter said “well we’re actually exclusively a research and measurement company, so that makes us pretty unique…compared to advertising agencies”. It’s pretty hard to recover from that one.
  • Don’t let people know you aren’t qualified for a position. There was one recruiter who was looking for someone with a background in software development to create the website. I responded “what a coincidence! I also need someone like that to help set up my LinkedIn profile, which I can’t figure out”. He didn’t laugh.
 
  • Don’t stand around and wait for a table to clear up. Be aggressive, or there is a very real chance that you will be standing awkwardly in the middle of the room for hours.
  • If there is swag on the table, grab it all up. Those pens are there for you! Don’t ever miss an opportunity to get free things.

  • Before you approach a recruiter, think really hard: “have I met this guy already?” I cannot stress this point enough. It is really difficult to convince a person that you are interested in their company if you don’t remember talking about it 20 minutes before.

I hope this list has been helpful to you. I know that I have learned a lot. Now that I know what to expect, I can’t wait for my next recruiting event. Well, maybe I can wait a little bit… at least until all of this blows over.

 

Terrible Jokes About Advertising


Hey, guys!

So it occurred to me today that there are not nearly enough jokes about advertising students. Therefore, I took the liberty of writing a few of my own. Everyone brace yourselves--hilarity is about to ensue.



What did the 12-99 title say to the advertising student?

I’m all about that base  




How many advertising postgraduate students at Sheridan College does it take to screw in a light bulb?

PFFFFT the entire class! So yeah just that one guy.




An advertising student picks up a garbage can, dumps it on his head, and then runs around campus yelling and chasing people. His Professor asks "what are you doing?" The student responds "trying to get some gross impressions".



Why did the advertising student throw hornet’s nests at all of his Facebook friends? 

He was trying to engage in Swarm marketing
 photo Castiel--ThatsABadJoke.gif

Why did no one show up to the Sheridan Advertising Association meeting? 

I don’t know, I guess they didn’t really get the message out there…




An advertising student walks into a mattress store. Immediately, they pull out a knife and start poking holes in all of the mattresses. A sales representative runs over and yells “what do you think you are doing!?” The advertising student responds “I’m looking for something”. The sales representative goes “what could you possibly be looking for inside a mattress?” The student responds “I’m trying to have a springsight."



What's black and white and red all over?

A print advertisement in a newspaper that’s black plus one colour



What did the Sheridan student say to the HR representative at the advertising agency?

In addition to having extensive experience generating an advertising campaign, I am proficient in various industry-specific software including Adobe InDesign and Nielsen Clear Decisions. Yah she nailed that interview.