It's A Fair!

On a completely different note, I went to a job fair at Governors State University on Thursday. I was initially under the impression the job fair was on Saturday, but when my dad called to get more info about it, he found out that it was that day. So, we trekked to Governors State (which my dad will be attending in the fall so he can get his college degree) and I made the rounds, dropping off copies of my resume as I went. The fair itself was pretty small, but it had a nice diversity of companies. Among them were a few banks (Citizens Financial Services, Bank Financial and a couple more), a couple of insurance companies (AFLAC and Mutual of Omaha), a public relations firm, a few medical places (one dealt with seniors and another dealt with autistic children), a company that sells office supplies (not a store), a couple of universities, the Horseshoe Casino in Hammond, AVON (promoting their Mary Kay-esque Mark line), two police departments (including one all the way from Wisconsin), a company specializing in handling payrolls, and some public service areas (Department of Human Services, Bureau of Corrections). I think I have a good chance of getting a couple of calls back from some of the companies. I know I have a good chance with a bank (given my background working at SOFO, the Student Organization Finance Office) and the person from Mutual of Omaha seemed especially interested as well. In fact, he and my dad struck up a good conversation since my dad sold insurance for a short time. I’d love to get a response back from the public relations company, since my major is Comm Studies. Also, I may even have a chance with the payroll company, although they did say they were looking for experienced people first.

Surprisingly, not many people attended the fair when I was there. Given the economy, you’d think that it would’ve been packed. Then again, the fair was on a Thursday afternoon. If it indeed had been on Saturday (or in the evening as it ended at 5 pm), I bet there would have been tons of people there. Hell, I’m not sure if a whole lot of people really knew about it. I heard about it from our family friend, Rhonda, who lives in the area where the college is located.

I am cautiously optimistic about my prospects. I don’t want to get my hopes up too much. NU never got back to me about any work and even jobs at stores I wouldn’t mind working at (Best Buy, Circuit City, Borders) were scarce. I never once saw anything even suggesting they were looking for people. But I really hope I can find a job...especially since my student loan payments start next month.