Let me first start off by saying, I HATE JOB FAIRS. They are usually too damn crowded and I hate saying the same damn thing over and over to each company about why they should hire me. But, I’m kind of tired of working at my current job, and I wanted to test the waters (Not to mention, I can use the new job pay increase). So, I attended to the National Black Masters in Business Administration Association (NBMBAA) conference in Washington DC this past week. This was a good opportunity to network with others as there were over 12,000 professionals, industry experts, recruiters, community leaders, students, and industry movers and shakers in attendance. In my two days of being at the convention center at the job fair I came up with a few rants and comments.
· If this is the National BLACK MBA conference, why in the hell were there so many white, Middle Eastern, and Asian people attending. I’m not racist or anything, but sheesh can us black people have something to ourselves? What's next white people in Harlem or South East DC? Nevermind....
· The job fair was not free. There were at least 200 different companies and government agencies that paid to be in attendance. So why was it not free? The worst part is, for someone like me who has already graduated it was $150 to register for the job fair. Luckily, I still have my student ID from 1997 and 2001 so I only had to pay $50 to register. I tell you what; I will never get rid of my student ID. Hell I still use it at the movies to get the discounted rate. I’m 30 using an ID with a picture taken when I was 18. Until the card falls apart, I'm still gonna use it.
· Props to Diageo for throwing a party at Love on Thursday night. If you don’t know, their products include Ciroc, Baileys, Tanqueray, and Smirnoff. The party was open bar all night so I was drinking Ciroc and lemonade and calling it Ciroc Obama © P-Diddy.
· Magic Johnson spoke about how hard it was for him to get financing for his business ventures. I thought to myself, Magic already has millions of dollars and still couldn't get financing, what the hell am I supposed to do when I want to start my own company?”
· I can see why Magic Johnson was there, he’s a business man. He owns some Starbucks, TGI Friday's and movie theatres. But what in the hell was Kareem Abdul Jabbar doing there? Why not bring out AC Green and Michael Cooper and have an 80’s Lakers reunion?
· One of my friends had an hour long interview with a company just so they could tell him that they are not currently hiring. What the hell was that about? He said he had a good interview and the recruiter said if they were hiring, he would have hired him.
· I waited an hour for the BB&T Bank recruiter to interview me just for her assistant to tell me that she was finished interviewing for the day.
· Walking in dress shoes for 19 hours hurts like hell. I swear by Friday night my feet looked like this
All in all, it was a good conference. I got to talk to a lot of companies and I met some good contacts for the future. If the economy were better, I probably would have walked away with a job offer. I did however get an interview that I have scheduled for Friday. Next year the conference is in New Orleans and I hope I can attend. This time I will have a better strategy on how to attack a job fair this big.
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