If you've ever talked to me immediately before, during, or immediately after a job fair, you'll know how I feel about them. In general I think they're about the fakest environment I've ever been in. You have the HR representatives, who pretend to a) have jobs to offer and b) be interested in you, and the worst part, you have gobs of people with resumes in hand, clothes they'd rather not be wearing, all prettied up to impress the HR representatives, almost as if they were going to church (hrm, that's a totally different subject - and no, I don't think it's bad to dress up for church, at least not necessarily). Anyway, the job seekers are doing their best to be impressive. Oh, and the number of people at these events is enough to make anybody want to crawl into a hole and hide until they all leave.

Perhaps it's just my introverted perspective on things, but as you can tell I don't find job fairs even the least bit fun. So, it took a lot of self-motivation to get my butt out of the apartment today. Finally, after I ate lunch and had no more excuses, I got my act together. Yup, you guessed it... dressed myself up, made sure my hair was combed, etc. It is kinda cool today, so I went with the long-sleeve button-down blue shirt, my favorite "dress" shirt. No tie, I have this thing about wearing ties to job fairs... don't want to make them think I like being dressed up. Just blue dress shirt with white t-shirt underneath, khaki pants, brown shoes belt. That'll do. Printed 10 resumes off, I've never once ran out of resumes. Drop them into my Sprint PCS binder, which is the most convenient thing I had to carry them in. I almost went with the plain old file folder - the simple look, but decided I'd go with my first instinct. Out to my car and on my way downtown. Oh, I did look at a map first, so I knew where I was going. I had, of course, been to the civic center for the auto show twice, so it wasn't hard to find. I luckily picked a cheap parking garage, and headed for the door.

Once inside, I handed my "quick pass" to the attendant in the middle of the floor. Thanks to the Internet for the self-registration that gave me the quick pass, one less obstacle in my way. Also, good thing I did that two weeks ago which gave me even more motivation to go. The attendant gave me back a bag with a booklet inside. Inside the booklet was the listing of employers and a map of the floor. I took a few steps inside to get to an uncrowded area and examine the map & listing. Looking up, I saw the one company that I knew I had to talk with - Edward Jones. That was the whole purpose for my visit. I had sent in my resume online already to EJ, but wanted to come meet them in person. EJ's HR website indicated this job fair as an opportunity to do just that.

Problem: huge long line. But wait, that line is for Lockhead Martin, in the booth next door to EJ. They were spilling out all over the place. Arg... people. I go fight my way forward. Patiently waiting (wait, was that a contradiction?). Ok, so I was more patient than fighting. One of the EJ reps was standing there, and occasionally making eye contact with me. I would've had to practically shove people out of the way in order to get to where he was. Finally people move just enough that I can get through. We chat for a bit, I do the brief rundown of my background, and comment on how EJ's been ranked #1 the past two years as best employer, they should be the ones having the huge line and not Lockhead Martin. Anyway, do the normal handing of resume, talking about how I can't start working until May, etc. etc. He starts to say how I should go visit their website but I somewhat cut him off and tell him that I already have, trying to appear as someone who's on top of things. I learn of their office location - 101 & Warner, in the ASU research park. Nice area, I like. Not too far away from here in fact.

After I leave, I go back to my post out of the way looking at the map & employer listing. FedEx is on the list, I slowly make my way over there. A crude "Sales Only" sign is hanging at the top of their booth. Just like every other job fair, if I hear somebody say "We're only looking for Sales & Marketing right now" one more time I think I'll explode. Luckily the sign did the trick. Back again to my post. I look up and down the isles, look up and down the list. Nothing. Lots of people. No company that I know anything about. People. Everywhere. I check every isle to see if there's a shortage of people somewhere, perhaps a booth of that perfect company with people waiting to talk to me. No dice. Ok, that's enough, it's time to leave. Happy that I was able to talk with the EJ folks, my one reason for driving downtown, I briskly walk back to my car. I check the time stamp on the ticket for the parking. It's been just over 30 minutes, maybe they'll only charge me for the half hour rate. I pull up to the booth, hand ticket, hold my breath. Yes, only $1. Now that's a deal, and I drive home happy.

I greatly apologize for the sheer length of this post. I guess I was in that writing mood or something. Oh well, as Tim said it is good writing practice. It definitely won't hurt.