On Campus Recruiting
/On Campus Recruiting is stressful. Companies from all over the world send representatives to interview Penn students for internships and jobs. As a senior, it can be difficult to take a step back when it seems like everybody in the world is recruiting. But in my years at Penn, I have come to realize that OCR is not the end-all-be-all.
While most of my friends did get their internships from OCR, I got mine because I was a lost kid outside of Penn Station, yelling on the phone asking my friend for directions. A woman came up to me and asked me if I needed help (I guess I was more desperate than I had thought). After politely declining, the woman insisted she help me get to my location. As a southerner with a stereotype of a New Yorker, I was shocked that someone would be so kind as to go out of their way to help me. We made our way down the sweltering hallways of Penn Station together, talking about my major and what I thought I wanted to do after college. It turns out, this woman had also gone to Penn, and when I told her I wanted to do something in public relations or entertainment, she responded with a simple “That’s kind of what I do!” We continued our conversation on the train (that she so graciously paid for), and at my stop, she pulled out a business card and told me to call her if I ever had any questions or wanted an internship. I shook her hands and walked away, grateful for her help getting me to my destination.
After I was all settled into my friend’s house, I looked at the card. She was the VP of PR for Hearst Magazines—she literally had my dream job. I contacted her two years later, reminding her of our encounter, and two days later, I had an internship that might potentially be a full time job after graduation. As I mentioned, OCR is an incredible tool, but it’s not for everybody, and that’s okay!