Pug’s Place

Today I saw firsthand how important it is to be different when you’re handing over a resume and expecting to make an impression on a recruiter. I spoke to 30 people today about the careers they wanted and how the US Air Force could make that happen while stripping away their souls, and amazingly, they all blur together. It’s as if they all said the same things, had the same career goals, the same conservative dress and the same resume. Of course, these people all are the product of the same technical writing course, taught by the same teachers who explain patiently that drawing attention to yourself is a bad thing.

The only person who sticks in my mind was a young woman with a very peculiar set of studies: her B.S. was in Physics, her M.S. was in Astronomy and she was finishing her Ph.D. in Food Science. But she wanted to do more Physics work, and was interested in how she might do that with the AF. Otherwise, except for two of my friends who came by no one made a real impression on me (My friends subsequently amazed I was greeting them and passing them onto recruiters — I’ve told essentially no one that I have the job I do) . Also curious: almost all of the students had in their eyes the same sort of nervous terror. One person in particular seemed remarkably relieved when I introduced myself to him as a fellow student and talked to him about Eglin. It was as-if some horrible shadow before them suddenly resolved into being a smiling man with a tray of hot cookies.

I spent a fair amount of my first hour wandering the top floor of the O’Dome stopping to talk to students who were just looking around, apparently unsure of where to go. I suggested they go visit the groups downstairs (where the AF booth was) and, if their major was in an scientific field and they appeared to be U.S. citizens, advised them to stop by the USAF Civilian Careers booth. When I tired of walking in a circle introducing myself and providing unsolicited advice, I went back down and just talked with people waiting in line to talk to real recruiters. Once a recruiter opened up, I introduced them. A simple job, but I did seem to relax people quite a bit when I said, “I’m also a student here, but I’ve worked for years on Eglin…”

It’s going to take me some time to digest all I experienced today, but I think an obvious strategy is to be mildly cocky and assertive, since few people seem to be. Confidence is an important factor in being memorable.