As the cold descends upon Hanover, many seniors are trying to balance their time between classes, enjoying their last fall as undergraduates, applying to graduate schools and -- for some -- the corporate recruiting process.
Seeing upperclassmen walk across the green with samples of toothpaste or shampoo will not be uncommon during the next few months as national corporations come to Dartmouth looking for students to fill full-time and internship positions in such areas as banking, sales management and advertising.
This past week, seniors have crammed into Career Services, pouring through company descriptions to finalize their resumes and cover letters to meet today's deadline for certain corporations and firms that offer on-campus interviews.
The Career Center extended its hours until 8 p.m. during the past week to accommodate the rush and urged those not participating in corporate recruiting to wait until next week to visit the center.
The corporate recruiting process begins with information sessions during the Fall term when representatives from the various corporations and firms come to Dartmouth and attempt to "sell" their organization and its benefits to interested students.
Starting in January, the corporations and firms return to Dartmouth to conduct interviews. Most corporations conduct two rounds of interviews here in Hanover and a third panel interview at a central location for the corporation or firm.
Susan Mattie, recruiting, training and development manager for Procter and Gamble, said she enjoys the opportunity to participate in information sessions.
"I think that the neatest thing for me is to see somebody get energized about doing something that I love to do," she said. "I am able to communicate my enthusiasm about what I do -- we are trying to sell a career in sales management."
Jeff Granoff '94 has attended five information sessions this term through the on-campus corporate recruiting process.
"Some [of the sessions] have been informative while others have not been," he said. " Right now, I am experiencing a great deal of pressures with this process as well as with my coinciding school work."
In addition to attending the information sessions, students are required to compile resumes and send them to the various corporations and firms which hold the sessions.
Seth Goldman '95 said he has attended between 10 and 15 presentations.
"I pretty much hate the process," he said. "You feel like you have to be at all the [information] sessions to get information about a particular firm and they end up giving a presentation identical to all the others you've been to."
Andras Petery '95, who has attended many recruiting sessions, said, "Initially, it was quite informative and the employee exposure was a great way of learning more about each firm's corporate identity and culture.
"The trend has become to sign-in, grab a company profile and bail as they all become one continuous slide show and the work piles up," he said.
But when it comes right down to it, the amount of time spent could all be worth it.
"In general, the [information] sessions and writing resumes and cover letters take a lot of time, which is something seniors do not have a lot of," Lauren Lewis '95 said. "But I guess the time now doesn't matter as much as having a job next year."
