As I’ve admitted many times over the years, I was a lucky, lucky guy while attending Iowa State’s Engineering College. Here’s why….

Somehow in my sophomore year I became aware of the concept of an engineering internship. That new awareness prompted me to sign up for two campus interviews.

Out of those two interviews I received one offer. It was for a summer internship with John Deere. It turned out to be a great experience that ultimately grew into a very satisfying 25-year career.

Initially, I Was Clueless In College

Looking back only at my college days (versus my whole career), I do feel very lucky because I remember being pretty much clueless about how the entire recruiting process worked.

What I mean is that I didn’t have a clear, big-picture understanding of all the recruiting “doors” (and the importance of each) that I would face from the time I entered college to when I graduated.   

May I Have A Do-Over?

If I could do things over, I would want someone to sit me down (tie me up if necessary) for a serious conversation while I was still in high school.

I would want them to paint for me a realistic picture of what the college recruiting “doors” looked like, the huge importance of each, and how they all fit together to form what I often refer to as the College Recruiting Cycle.

If such a conversation were to take place, here is the core of what I would want to hear about:

4 College Recruiting Doors Every Student Must Learn How To Unlock

Door #1 - The Career Fair Door

WHAM! Within one to two months of arriving at college, freshman (at many schools) face their first exposure to the infamous College Recruiting Cycle. It's Door #1 - the Career Fair. Unfortunately for many kids, it’s anything but the kind of fun you would expect to have at a county fair.

Having to present themselves professionally to company representatives is often a new experience that’s very uncomfortable for young people, especially if they haven’t prepared properly. The real shame about this step, though, is that if students fail to generate interest in themselves amongst the many company reps at the career fair, Door #1 stays shut and the students won’t move onto Door #2. The result is that it's unlikely they will get an internship offer during this recruiting cycle. Bummer!

Career fairs can be challenging, but in no way are they insurmountable. Actually, they can be a lot of fun, and can be great skill and confidence builders for students. The key to making these things happen is preparation.

If you’re curious about what’s required for thorough career fair preparation, check out THIS PAST BLOG POST I wrote. Another post that can help your kids avoid five common career fair mistakes is THIS ONE.

Door #2 - The Internship Interview Door

On most campuses, the career fair is used as a meet’n’greet and resume collection point so company recruiters can determine who they want to interview for their intern and full-time openings. Often their interviews take place on campus in the days immediately following the fair.

If we take the example case of a freshman, if she’s invited to interview for an internship position (i.e., she made it through Career Fair Door #1), the next stopping point in the cycle is at Door #2, the Internship Interview.

Even more than a career fair conversation, face-to-face interviews can be very unnerving, especially if a student is inexperienced, unprepared and/or hasn’t practiced. This is why most college career centers regularly offer interviewing advice and the opportunity to do mock interviews.

Another key interview preparation step is to fully understand what behavioral style interviewing is, since it’s used by so many companies today. It’s the method I was trained on and used when I recruited on college campuses for John Deere. If you’d like to learn the basics of this interview method, read THIS PAST BLOG POST.

Door #3 - The Internship Door

If our example freshman made it through Doors #1 and #2, and accepted her internship offer, her next challenge in the Recruiting Cycle is to perform successfully during her internship session. Some students, like me in 1979, might think this is a no-brainer that requires little preparation and attention, but today I would beg to differ in a very big way.

Let’s be honest, internships are essentially sales sessions where the student is selling herself everyday to the company and its employees. She needs to be very intentional about doing well in all aspects of her internship.

Of course, the same thing can be said for the company. An internship program is an important recruiting pipeline and every company should constantly strive to put its best foot forward when they’ve hired an intern.

To help students (and their parents) better understand how to maximize an internship, earlier this year I published a free GUIDE titled, DOMINATING YOUR INTERNSHIP: 7.5 Secrets to Creating an Awesome and Invaluable Experience as an Engineering or STEM Intern. Below is an introduction video (with details on how to get the free downloadable PDF).

 Door #4 - The Full-time Job Interview Door

Door #4 is the pinnacle. Most often in year four of college (or five, or even six), a student will find himself at Door #4, in the midst of a face-to-face interview for a full-time position after graduation.

As you might expect, the preparation for this interview is virtually identical to what’s necessary for an internship interview. The biggest difference is that the student should have a wider selection of experiences to draw from and talk about by the time he is a senior.

UPDATE: Oops...in my excitement over writing and initially posting this article for you, I forgot to include Door#5 - The On-site Interview Trip. I'll discuss this "Door" in a future article because it's actually the pinnacle, not Door#4.

Good News…Every Semester the Cycle Begins Anew

Not unlike when I attended college in the late 70’s, every fall and spring still mark the beginning of a brand new College Recruiting Cycle (at least at my alma mater, Iowa State).

Obviously, this means that most students will face Doors #1, #2 and #3 multiple times during their stay at college.

This suggests that those students who prepare properly will have an outstanding chance to snag one, two, three, or maybe even four internships before graduating. Any of these scenarios should put them in a strong position to secure multiple offers for full-time positions after they graduate. Woo..Hoo!

Will You Have the Conversation Soon?

So have I convinced you to tie up your child and have the dreaded College Recruiting Cycle conversation? Seriously, don’t tie them up, but do try and have the conversation. They’ll thank you later. And you might even thank me :)

Question: As a parent, do you feel comfortable with your understanding of the recruiting process your kids face at college, and how you can best help them? Please share your Comments.

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Thanks for reading. I'm Don Gallagher, founder of the STEM career and soft skills development site: EngineeringCareerLauncher.com.

Educated as a mechanical engineer, I spent 25 years in engineering, recruiting, training, sales and marketing roles with John Deere. Today I have a passion for helping STEM students build remarkable careers.

If you found this article helpful, you might also like my FREE 53-page STRAIGHT TALK GUIDE titled, A PARENT’S GUIDE TO HELPING STEM* STUDENTS BUILD OUTSTANDING SOFT SKILLS: 8 Powerful Strategies for Teaching the Soft Skills Necessary for Remarkable Success in College, in a Career…and in Life!.

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