Hundreds of students in suits, stood in line clutching resumes at the all-major career fair on Sept. 8 and 9. As the largest event on campus held by the Career Center, the Fall 2025 Georgia Tech All-Majors Career Fair attracts over 200 employers from a wide range of industries.
As a major fall event, Tech has taken the initiative to make sure students are prepared. In the weeks leading up to the fair, several preparatory events were held, including workshops hosted by the Career Center and interview prep sessions organized by Tech’s Panhellenic community.
One resource students found especially useful was the Career Fair App, which allowed them to browse companies, star their top choices and map out their routes in advance.
Cleo Norris, MS CSE, described how she prepared for this event.
“I went through all of the employers listed in the career fair app… I went to the websites, and figured out which ones looked interesting to me. I then starred them in the app,” Norris said. “I think I prepared well.”
After getting her undergraduate degree from McGill University in Montreal, Norris compared her career fair experiences.
“It’s completely different, especially going to a U.S. school in general, there’s a lot more competitiveness so I felt really thankful that the Career Center had prepared me so well… you get in there…you have to wait in long lines and know exactly where you want to go next and all that, but I think it’s nice that everyone else is doing the same thing. Everyone’s trying to get a job and trying to network, so it was nice,” Norris said.
With so much uncertainty in the job market, an environment such as the one created in the career fair helps provide students with a sense of preparation, as shown in Norris’ case.
For first-year students like Siddhant Singh, first-year CE, the experience was both exciting and overwhelming.
“I used the career fair app to locate booths that I wanted to go to. It was pretty overwhelming; there were a lot of companies,” Singh said.
“A lot of those companies weren’t really hiring first-years, but I think it gave me a standard of what career fairs are here at Georgia Tech.”
Even though many first-year students arrive at the career fair with a glint of hope in their eyes, few will actually walk out with any real opportunities. Singh hopes to see more companies willing to provide opportunities to first years at the career fair.
“More companies would help, just more companies that are hiring first year or second year,” Singh said.
For many younger students, the all-major career fair serves less as a recruitment opportunity and more as an experience in professional etiquette, industry expectations and the logistics of navigating a crowded event.
“We have our BME career fair in two days, so I think I’m using these two days as … a preparation for that one because there will be less people there,” said Akilan Ganesan, first-year BME.
Alongside large-scale, all-major fairs that attract a wide range of companies and students, major-specific career fairs — such as the upcoming Biomedical Engineering fair — offer a more targeted environment. For students like Ganesan, they serve not only as a valuable recruitment resource but also as a chance to refine networking and interviewing skills in a more intimate setting. Tech’s multitude of career fair opportunities serves as a vital resource for many students preparing to enter the job market.
The all-major fair provides broad exposure and access to a large number of employers, but the sheer scale can present challenges. Crowds, long lines and limited time with recruiters make it hard for students — especially first-time attendees — to fully engage.
As Ganesan notes, the crowded atmosphere made it difficult for him to meet employers:
“The lines for everything were really, really bad. I think I talked to a total of three companies, and I was there for two hours,” Ganesan said.
Despite these hurdles, students consistently point to the fair as a valuable learning experience. Whether finding job opportunities, identifying potential career paths, or simply practicing professional interactions, attendees walk away better prepared for future opportunities.
While the all-major career fair can seem overwhelming due to the sheer amount of students attending, it also serves as a valuable and real introduction to the professional world. With the help of preparation tools provided by the Career Center, students are able to turn a daunting event into a meaningful step in their career journey.