Why Did I Bother?

I made the unwise choice to attend 'Career Wise: A Diversity Job Expo' held today in the Lexus Club at PNC Park.

Attending the job fair was a complete and utter waste of my time. Here's why:

I'm a friendly, outgoing, articulate individual. I'm able to converse on a variety of topics and am very accommodating to anyone with whom I speak. Any employer meeting me could correctly assume that I would represent their company well and would be an excellent hire for their organization.

So one would think that some of the Human Resources representatives in attendance at the career fair, after a brief conversation with me, would hand me their business card, stating something like, "You sound like you handle yourself well. We have some job openings that you might be interested in...."

Unfortunately, this was not the case. Most, if not all of the recruiters at the fair simply directed job seekers to fill out an application or submit their résumé at their company's Web site. I could have saved myself the trip to the stadium and the $6 for parking if I knew that in advance.

Further, by the time I visited the job fair at around 2:30 in the afternoon, many of the recruiters were tired and grumpy. They certainly weren't in the mood for conversation at that point. One recruiter even refused to give me his business card, stating brusquely that he "didn't give out business cards at job fairs." (My aim in asking for a business card was simply to establish a contact at that company.)

And while I didn't get this man's business card (which, after he was rude to me, I didn't want anyway), I did end up with a plethora of plastic junk -- mini flashlights, keychains, bag clips and pens, pens, pens -- all printed with the name of each company that was giving it away. And of course, I'm going to turn around and give most of these tchotchkes to my young nephews and niece.

Maybe I'll get a job as a result of attending this job fair, but I highly doubt it.

But at least I'm now the proud owner of a 'Dick Builds Quality' travel mug from Dick Corporation. That's worth something, isn't it?