It is now a month and a half into the school year, and I’m sitting here in my room wishing I had a magical crystal ball that would show me where I’ll be one year from now. Will I have a job? Will I be completing more schooling? Will I be traveling? My hopes are on a job. No, not just any job. I want The Job.

Autumn is the season where companies make their rounds to universities to recruit students who will work for them full-time once they graduate. Businesses traditionally do an information session where they promote their values and culture to prospective employees. For students, this is the time to network with representatives from these companies. At the same time, you can find out what kind of job you are interested in, and also what kind of company you want to work for.

This semester alone, I’ve attended seven company information sessions, gotten a lot of freebies (I am a walking advertisement for Consumer Product Goods companies!) and done a handful of interviews. I’m still not sure what’s going to happen in the future, but there’s always a plus to this process: for every person I’ve met and every company I’ve listened to, I’ve learned something.

Sometimes I learn how much I’d like to work at their company, and other times I can’t wait to get out of the conversation. This makes the whole “Which company should I apply to?” decision much easier, and also reduces the amount of cover letters I have to write.

It has become increasingly difficult to be picky about jobs, especially when most of my accounting and consulting friends have already signed with a firm.

My ideal company is one that is socially conscious, provides opportunities to grow, and promotes a healthy work-life balance: but I fear that as I get more and more desperate I’ll settle for any business that will hire me. I’ve already had to reset one of my previous goals of securing a job by Christmas.

Now my goal is to have a plan, any plan. But in the end, when I take the time to look at things more clearly, it’s all going to be okay: because if all else fails, I will become a professional couch surfer living off my accounting and consulting friends (and it will be amazing!).

In the coming months, you will be able to follow my progress through the campus recruitment process by reading regular articles on experiences with the following:

• Information Sessions
• Networking
• Resumés and Cover Letters
• Interviews

If you do happen to find that crystal ball I mentioned earlier, please send it over my way and I promise to do the same for you.