For those of you who don't know already, I applied for a really nice scholarship several weeks ago. Turns out, I GOT IT! It's the Kennecott Scholarship and is worth $6000! Yeah, I'm pretty stoked! This will pay for almost an entire year's worth of tuition.
Anyway, earlier this evening I attended an awards banquet for all of the scholarship recipients. There were about 20 total. They took pictures of us too with the president of the University and other VIPs.
Well, as we were sitting and eating, I noticed a lot of people socializing. I saw a group of people wearing name badges that said "Kennecott" on them, and I became curious. I have been told time and time again how important it is to Network! I thought "Gosh, this is a perfect opportunity to Network." I had never really considered a career with Kennecott, but hey, they're giving me free money. The least I could do is learn what it is they do.
So I went up to a group of Kennecott employees and introduced myself as one of the scholarship recipients. They all began to introduce themselves... Head of Publicity... General Manager.... VP over something... and the President and CEO of Kennecott! Despite being totally outmatched, I felt oddly comfortable around them. They asked me about my schooling, and when I mentioned I was an EE major, the general manager said "Oh good, we can use all the EE's we can get!" I started asking them what kind of jobs they offer for EE's, and the kind of work they do on a day to day basis. That's when the CEO piped up and said "You know, I do inspections of the plant every so often. Why don't you give me a call this summer and I'll take you with me and give you a personal tour. I can introduce you a few head engineers and they can show you what it is they do."
Well, after leaving that conversation with a plunder of business cards, I am now a convert to networking. I now understand what all of they hype is about. Still not sure if I would want to pursue a career down that path, but gosh, I like the way they treat little students like me! :D
