Senior year comes with an array of lasts, or even sometimes, firsts, which can include anything like late night chats with friends, spur of the moment shopping trips, movie nights in the halls, and of course, the inevitable job search. Every year the Cohen Career Center on campus hosts an epic career fair bringing undergraduate students, grads, faculty, alumni, and potential employers all to our wonderful William and Mary campus.
It seems as though each year the campus completely transforms as the great banquet rooms of Sadler go from being spaces for trivia nights and Salsa club practices into recruiting spaces where students put forth their personal pitches in exchange for information about the company they may or may not have any clue about. Recruiters come fully armed with free gifts: pens, notepads, cups, shirts, you name it. Tables upon tables seemingly fill every space as companies from all over the nation are represented. In a span of minutes and with each step, students are presented with various professional opportunities in every sector imaginable from education to business to health care to government.
Fair fever engulfs the campus as students in their finest business form briefly stop to stick name tags stating their majors on the front of white blouses and navy blue blazers. Other students crowd around the entry doors of the upper-floor rooms juggling their bags and folders to pull out a single copy of their resume for the first company representative they are preparing to approach. The creative chaos trickles outdoors towards the Terrace where interspersed throughout groups of seated and standing people are those wearing the hat of students who are taking an hour long lunch break before the invisible bell rings for their next class, while others are temporarily rocking the PE, or potential employee, hat nervously clinging their folders full of freshly edited resumes and chatting briefly with their friends before taking the long walk up several flights of stairs to arrive at their fated destination.
Looking back over my college career, I smile thinking about the leaps and bounds I’ve made in my professional and even academic life. I remember my freshman self and how anxious I was to talk to different recruiters, not knowing what to say or even how to say it. My hall mate and I stood in amazement as we brushed shoulders with upperclassmen and grad students who looked so prepared and polish not knowing that only three short years later we would be those same experienced, confident seniors handing over our business cards and information, and in some cases (like mine in particular), engaging with underclassmen ourselves, teaching them about all the opportunities available to them outside of campus. So my senior year self realizes now that the fair is not as daunting as it appeared during my freshman year, but instead it’s more or less a gathering place where old and new friends come together and potential allies and peers meet to discuss the endless possibilities of an ever-approaching future. To me, the fair represents growth. A place where my unsure freshman self could grow into a spirited, self-assured senior who could share her experiences with others!