meditations on a career fair

These are the misadventures of a liberal arts girl in the heartland of the vocational and financial...

I suppose I should lay out the preconceived notions and fears I had prior to this little venture.  I have never before visited a career fair.  Which seems odd, given there were plenty at Ohio State.  Again my fatal flaw of rolling the dice and going on my own.  So I wondered what it would mean for me, especially after so much artsy schooling, to visit with hiring staff from insurance companies, financial institutions and corporations.  Would I be laughed out of the room?  My resume is tailored to catch the museum eye...and I might just get confirmation that I've lost all ability to impress.  I might get confirmation that my resume is crap.  I might be the only Gen Y in the room (pretty darn close, it turns out), and I might not look good enough.

I wondered who goes to these sorts of things?  I was a little surprised to feel some shame.  Like the unemployed and under-employed are vocational lepers.  I never imagined myself in this position of helplessness.  And I never wanted evidence that it is of my own doing flung in my face.  Even though I have never attained any semblance of status, I felt the absence of it.  Very strange.

Now this fair was a lot smaller than those I had seen on the news.  Maybe around a dozen tables.  Of course, more could have come after I left.  I was yet again reminded of the specter of education...or rather, re-education...by the presence of three career colleges.  And I call them that to differentiate from the 4-year liberal arts system that seems to be so demonized these days.  Like people who study history and art don't want careers?  Sheesh.  They're running a pretty nice racket, getting people to go back to school for every little change in their career path.  I guess I'm an oddball for thinking enough is enough when it comes to student debt.  So I was a fish out of water.  But I had my spiel:  branching out to the private sector, offering my administrative and organizational and computer skills.  I even have some sales and customer service under my belt.

So why deny me "entry" (in the figurative sense) to this world of "career"?

Nobody actually flinched when I said "art" or "non-profit."  Good sign.  One lady seemed to deem all my experience in museums collectively as an internship.  Like I had no valuable training from those years.  Bad sign.  This I find interesting, and I would have to go to many more fairs to say anything definitive, but the woman was far less receptive to me than men at other tables.  Curious.

What I got out of this was some confirmation of my previous employment lamentations:  1. Every HR person has his/her own prejudices, and you cannot please everyone (without lying), 2. I will never rid myself of my prejudice against financial institutions even if I work for one and drive myself slowly insane, and 3. I just cannot seem to get along with middle-aged women.