Long lines snaked around the Campus Recreation Center (CRC) and Stamps Health Services building on Wednesday, Sept. 11, as the College of Computing (CoC) hosted its GT Computing Fall Career Fair.
The CoC used the fourth-floor gym court space where the 2024 Fall All-Majors Career Fair was held the previous two days; however, unlike the all-majors career fair, there were significant logistical challenges to getting students into the event.
Some students told the Technique that they had to wait in line for as long as an hour and a half before even being able to enter the CRC, yet other students could enter the event space in as little as 20 minutes.
The Technique spoke with Paul Fowler, CoC Director of Career Services, at the career fair about the event, organizational challenges and why the lines to enter the event were so long.
Fowler said that when doors opened, the event space quickly reached capacity, forcing his team to operate under a one-in-one-out system to maintain compliance with the fire code. Students were only allowed to go to the floor after students had left the fair.
Fowler was told that event space had a 1000 person capacity. The CRC did not respond to the Technique’s request to confirm the capacity of the fourth floor of the CRC. Fowler also explained that part of the reason there were more challenges with space this year was due to a venue change.
“The last three years, we were at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, which had ample space but had logistical issues as far as transportation and securing access at a non-Tech facility,” Fowler said.
The CoC also implemented a VIP system that gave special privileges to students on the day of the career fair if they completed a three-part canvas assignment, but this system seemed to exacerbate the fair’s organizational challenges.
VIP students could enter the career fair an hour early, at 9 a.m. instead of 10 a.m., and also avoid the long lines by jumping the non-VIP students at any time during the day.
In an email to VIP students obtained by the Technique, Fowler said, “If you are unable to make it to the fair before 10:00 a.m., still come with your VIP nametag and bypass the check-in registration line. Consider your VIP name tag as a ‘Fast Pass’ to get you to the front of the line.”
Fowler told the Technique that about 800 students had completed the VIP assignments and that the majority had used their hour-early privilege and that the VIP system was intended to spread out the number of students throughout the day.
“The aspiration was that by getting 800 students in early for an hour would actually balance out the flow through the day. Many of those VIP students arrived early, but there were also some non-VIP students waiting in line as early as 7:45 to get into the fair,” Fowler said.
The combination of the hour-early policy, fast pass policy and reaching maximum capacity on the floor led to new VIP students who arrived getting priority over entering whenever someone left the floor, even though they might not have claimed their hour-early time window.
The result was that students in the non-VIP line who still had to register and collect their name tags had to wait until there was no one receiving priority in the VIP line and there was enough space on the floor to be permitted to enter.
Max Boggus, fourth-year CS, had already waited an hour and a half when the Technique spoke to him, but he was still waiting outside between the CRC and Stamps Health Services building.
“I think it was right for the VIP students to get in at nine, but I don’t think it is fair for them to be able to cut the line now, which is what they have been able to do. Some people are unavailable the day before to go to the College of Computing. That is a long drive for me,” Boggus said, referring to the VIP students’ ability to pick up their name tags and VIP badges a day before the career fair.
Even though VIP students could skip the long lines, they still struggled to get into the event space. Ayush Gharat, third-year CS, completed the VIP requirements and had his name tag and VIP badge before he went to the event, yet he said it took him 45 minutes to get inside using the VIP line. He said the CoC could have avoided the long waiting times.
“I was speaking to some other people in the line; they were talking about their experience during the virtual career fairs and the previous days. They suggested the idea of doing time slots, where people can book slots and that way, they could guarantee a spot to talk to the recruiters without having to wait in lines or outside,” Gharat said.
Gharat also said that he preferred holding the career fair at Mercedes-Benz Stadium and that getting to the stadium was never a big issue for him.
“It was never really a problem getting to the stadium in previous years. If we didn’t take the bus that Tech was providing to students and worst case, we would just book a cab. It was something I was willing to do to get there early or get ahead of the line,” Gharat said.
Other students agreed that they preferred hosting the career fair at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Liam Dolphin, third-year CS, said that he preferred the stadium because it had a great atmosphere in the center of the stadium and provided more space for students and recruiters. Boggus added that the stadium was much easier to get into.
“Last year was extremely easy to get into with the Mercedes-Benz stadium. This career fair is bound to be probably one of the [events where] you need to expect that a lot more people are going to show out than the regular career fair, which has been true. We went to the one on Monday. There was no line like this,” Boggus said.
Fowler agreed that part of the difficulties with this career fair, in particular, was the large crowd it attracted.
“The College of Computing is the largest college on campus, and the quality of employers here today, mixed with a large student body, has created more interest in this fair, perhaps, than the all-majors career fair, particularly given that many other schools and programs also have specialized career fairs,” Fowler said.
Fowler told the Technique that he and his team were already strategizing enhancements to the GT Computing Career fair, including providing a resume book where students can drop their resumes for employers to view. Fowler says this will allow students to give their details to companies even if they do not have time to speak with them directly.
Shortly after speaking with the Technique, Fowler made an announcement to everyone in the event space, asking students who had finished speaking with employers to leave so that more people in the line could have the chance to enter.
In the coming semesters, CS majors will be hoping that the process for attending the career fair improves, but due to the high demand, number of CS majors and campus space limitations, the lines are unlikely to be any shorter.
Vignesh Suresh Kumar, second-year CS, had just joined the back of the line with his friends when he told the Technique that he was expecting a long line.
“We were in the line earlier, but we had to leave to get lunch. Now we are prepared for the wait,” Kumar said.