Career Events Guide for Engineering Master’s Students

These often happen with more frequency in the beginning of the semester, both in fall and spring. For example, Duke Engineering’s TechConnect and the Duke Career Center’s All-Industry Career Fairs typically happen each September and each January or February.

This timing is indicative of planned hiring i.e. hiring when an organization typically knows their hiring needs 6-12 months in advance. You may also experience some career fairs later in the semester with taglines of “just-in-time” events. This means organizations are looking to hire quickly and in the short term.

Typical Fall Career Fairs:

• TechConnect & CS Fair
• NC State Engineering Career Fair
• All-Industry Career Fair
• NC State Master’s and Doctoral Virtual Career Fair

Typical Spring Career Fairs:

• TechConnect
• Career & Summer Opportunities Fair
• NC State Engineering Career Fair
• Startup Connect
• SEC/ACC Virtual Career Fair
• Ivy+ Virtual Fair

These events happen throughout the year based on an organization’s recruiting timeline and motivation for hiring. Events happen at one of the organization’s locations, on a college campus, or in another setting.

Check if these have a set agenda and theme, or if they are structured as an open house. Your preparation should take these factors into account. An example of this type of event is Cisco’s RTP College Career Day in Fall 2024.

These take place year-round and may be hosted by an organization, a group of professionals within an organization, a professional association, or a group of individuals who want to gather over a shared topic or interest. Events like these typically involve meeting new people and asking good questions to have high quality conversations. They often also include food either small plates, or a meal.

Find out about these type of events by following companies on Handshake and LinkedIn, as well as watching for meetups of professional associations and local groups in your area.

You may have the opportunity to attend a conference during your time as an Engineering Master’s student. Many professional conferences now have a career fair or other career event where attendees can interact with organizations. Research conferences that match your career goals to see if any exist you want to attend. Ask your program or department if they provide funding to help finance your trip.

Before you start, decide the type of career events that benefit you. We want you to invest your time and energy in the spaces that make sense for you. If a career event interests you, research it to decide if you want to attend it.

• Review website, emails, and other marketing material to understand the format of an event, who is attending, and what you can expect.
• If you decide to attend, take it a step further and invest time to research attendees past a superficial search.
  • What do those attending do (organization or individuals)?
  • What products and/or services are important to their organization?
  • What might they value in people who join their team?

Use this research to inform the next steps we share.

Notice we don’t call this a pitch; we encourage you to think of a conversation instead of sales!

• Create and refine a brief introduction highlighting parts of your profile that will be valued by the person/organization with whom you’re speaking.
• We encourage you not to memorize your intro but have an idea of points that are important to share and speak genuinely.
• Pro tip: For events at Duke, everyone is a Duke student and there may be multiple people from your program or department attending. In these instances, focus even more on what makes you an individual instead of what makes you part of a larger group of people at the event.

• One of the best ways to make a positive impression is to ask thoughtful, genuine and well-researched questions. This not only shows your intelligence, but also demonstrates your motivation for an organization or area of work.
• We encourage you to think deeply about this before an event and not ask questions to which answers are easily available a few clicks away.
• Ask a high-quality question you care about to demonstrate your curiosity and respect the other individual’s time.

• The person you’re talking to may want more information about you and request to see your resume or look for you on LinkedIn. While having a LinkedIn profile isn’t mandatory, it’s worth considering whether its capabilities can enhance your job search and professional development strategy.

• Your resume should reflect what you are sharing in conversation with others at the career event. If you say you are targeting a specific career goal, your audience will anticipate a document reflecting that goal.

• You may want to bring physical copies of your resume to career events, in case someone asks to see it.

In your research, determine what attire is expected at the event. If unsure, you can ask the event organizers, or a safe alternative is to dress in the manner that is typically expected in that field, organization, or role.

For example, most students interested in tech roles wear business casual to career events. Those interested in consulting or finance wear business formal. This is also a great question to ask on the MS Teams channel where everyone can benefit from the response of a career coach or a peer.

Plan for the day of the event.

• Consider your schedule and how much time you’ll be able to spend.
• Will you be able to go to the entire event, or just part of it?
• Do you need to ask your professor to miss class to attend or is it during your free time?
• Is transportation involved in the day and if so, what steps do you need to take to secure it?
• Which items do you need to take, like copies of your resume, and how are you going to carry them around?

Plan who you want to talk to with the amount of time you have. If it’s a larger event, consider wait times to speak with individuals and how you may realistically be able to engage with them.

Focus on the quality of interactions you can have, not the quantity. Career events are about establishing connections, not closing deals.

Plan for how you will note important conversation points you want to remember.

• Where will you take these notes? On your phone or on paper?
• Will you take them after each conversation or at the end of the event?

Some of these decisions will be made in the moment or require pivoting, but it’s helpful to have a plan going into the event.

Career events are a great place to meet people, but one interaction is not a relationship. Relationships are built in follow-ups and continued connection.

We encourage you to send a thank you email/message and potentially connect on LinkedIn with anyone you’d like to maintain as a new connection. In your message, include a specific point of your discussion or connection so they remember you.

In addition to following up, act on recommendations from people you met.

• Did they ask you to share your resume?
• Did they tell you to check out a podcast to learn about a topic you discussed?

We trust you to know which recommendations make sense for you and those that don’t; our advice is to act on those that align with your interests and goals.

Use your CliftonStrengths as a starting point to think about what you enjoy and where you excel. Strengths are often the behaviors you’re known for doing reliably well. Consider how these could add value in a work setting and how you’d like to talk about these potential contributions with others.

In preparation for career events, align your values and priorities with the opportunities you pursue. Consider what matters to you when selecting events to attend, choosing people to talk to, and crafting the questions you ask.

There are MANY opportunities to utilize AI in preparing for career events from research to developing questions and more. Here are three potential prompts to help kickstart your own ideas.

“Tell me about three challenges [insert role] professionals are currently facing within the [x] sector.”

“Using my resume + these additional details of my persona, help me create a short introduction for a career fair [or networking event, etc.].”

“What are the latest highlights for X company that I should know about for a conversation with a company representative?”

Your Introduction:

Name + brief introductory details + what brought you to an event+ a question
Name + brief introductory details + commonality with the individual+ a question

Introduction examples:

• How to Introduce Yourself in a Way That’ll Make People Care Who You Are (Source: The Muse)
• 7 Tips for Introducing Yourself at a Networking Event (With Examples) (Source: Indeed)