Today's job fair was far better than the previous two. There were a good five
companies that were worth my time to stand in line for. The grand total of 16
companies present, however, was a far cry from the large and crowded room of other
years. Amusingly enough, most of the companies there hiring were military and/or
space contractors. When those are the most profitable and stable companies, you
know the economy's in a very, very deep hole.
On the other hand,
this might be where my years working for NASA and DoD contractors finally do me
some good. It would be kind of fun to work on the design of unmanned spacecraft --
I might even actually get to use that master's degree in space
science.
If any of them ever call me, that is.
After
spending about an hour and a half standing in various lines, I walked over in my
tight shoes to have lunch with Egret, who works out that way. She has now seen a
sight previously granted to very few people in Arizona: me in a suit. And
pantyhose, even. She stood the shock well though; I suppose after someone has
listened to your dry
heaves, anything else is an anticlimax.
After that, I drove way
out to the east side of town to drop off an application form to my once and maybe
future employer, which gave me a chance to appreciate anew, and still in tight
shoes, just how big that parking lot really is. Even the visitor's spaces are a
trudge away from the main building. The scariest part of all, on this campus of
several buildings and thousands of employees, was that the receptionist recognized
me.