It’s fall semester and it’s time to start thinking about internships for next summer already! USC Viterbi career services hosts a ton of amazing events for students to connect with recruiters, and there are always a tons of ways to network!
The past few weeks have been filled with career events. The first event was a few weeks ago and that was Career Conference. For that students came to get ready for the other upcoming events. Industry reps came and gave presentations about elevator pitches, acing the interview, resume critiques, and much much more. We also got to hear the keynote speech from Tim Westergren, the founder of Pandora. It was a great way to meet a lot of industry reps in a setting where they were there to help you, not necessarily hire you. I also got a ton of great advice about how to make my resume even better that got me very excited for the rest of the upcoming events.
We started the week of career activities with AIChE (read more about AIChE in my blog from last week!) having Steve Wolfsohn who graduated last year come back and talk about his experience working at Abbott Labs and give some tips for talking to recruiters at the other events coming up. He had some great advice, and the best was what types of questions do you ask recruiters at the end of the conversation, and what types of things you should communicate to them. It was a great way to get excited for the other upcoming events.
https://twitter.com/LyssaUSC/status/387411347853414401
The next event was VINE: the Viterbi Industry Networking Event. This is only open to juniors and seniors to give them a chance to get to know recruiters in a more intimate and casual setting. It’s hosted at Town and Gown, my favorite building on campus, and they have appetizers and tables for a ton of recruiters to get to talk to them and know them a little better. It’s a time where you can get a better feel of what the companies are like and what types of things they are looking for, and a way to get a more personal connection to the recruiters. I had a great time talking to companies and definitely did some meaningful networking.
https://twitter.com/LyssaUSC/status/387790996379279360
Finally it was the big day: Career Expo! Hundreds of companies looking for only Viterbi Students line the entire E-Quad and Bloom Way and have tables for recruiters, all the information about their application process, and also lots of free swag from their companies. The rocket USBs from SpaceX were definitely a highlight. Of course it rained all day, even though it never rains in perfect sunny southern California, but it was still an awesome day talking to companies and trying to figure out a little bit more what I want to do next summer and after graduation.
https://twitter.com/LyssaUSC/status/388010922641723392
Of course all this excitement and activity means it’s time to start applying to tons of jobs, and hoping that one of them is right for me!
