University of Michigan Internship Fair ’08

January 22, 2008 | 2 Minute Read

So I headed on down to the internship fair today happening at the Union.

First thing that I noticed was that everyone was wearing suits! My opinion on suits is that I hope I’ll never work anywhere that requires one, except for maybe at a company formal party or something. I guess it’s pretty standard attire for an internship fair, but I think distinguishing yourself is important too. Everyone looks the same in a suit. Luckily, I distinguished myself as the idiot who didn’t bring a suit.

Mostly I just wandered around looking all the companies. Quite a few had really long lines just to talk to a recruiter. The place was packed, too. There were probably a few hundred people in any given room.

I talked to some people from Liberty Mutual. The guy was laid back and pretty cool. He told me to check their website for any openings, and I got a pen and a weird bendy thing (it’s like, a blue bendy stick).

I also checked out this local web development company called Enlighten. They were laid back as well. I talked to them a bit about web development and they gave me some cool magnetic thinking putty. I played with it. It’s sorta magnetic, but not highly magnetic. Like you wouldn’t replace an industrial strength electromagnet with it or anything.

Most of my social interactions went pretty smoothly, I must say. There was one that I could probably call the worst of the year so far. I went up to the Macy’s corner and some guy said something and stuck out his hand. Now, I know when a person wants to shake my hand, I’m not an idiot. But I didn’t hear what he said, and I thought he said something like, “name?” So I was like, “Hung,” and I pointed to my name tag. Then he said something else I couldn’t hear, so I said it louder and pointed more furiously, “HUNG!” I thought he wanted to take something, instead of shaking my hand. Anyway, I finally shook his hand.

Then, I asked if there were any engineering type jobs at Macy’s. He said that no, there were only management type jobs. I guess our interaction could’ve just ended there. But then I noticed something.

Standing right behind the guy was a larger version of the guy. It was him, but bigger, and printed out on a large piece of paper.

“Is… that… you?” I slowly asked with furrowed brow. “THAT’S YOU!” And indeed, it was him on the promotional banner. He said it was taken a year or so ago. Without thinking, I said something like, “Could you stand next to it and do the same pose!?” I think he was starting to get tired of my shenanigans. He actually contemplated it before not doing it. Then he suggested I leave by saying something like, “well, good luck in your internship search!” I took the hint, but not before asking for a bouncy Macy’s ball.

It glows when you bounce it.