Preparing for RCF

Agenda Preparation Know Your Audience Your delivery – Communication skills, etiquette, follow-up

How to prep Know what you want to communicate – What are your skills/aspirations – What was the process like? Practice your “commercial” - intro & demo Prepare questions (FAQs)

Your Commercial Name Class (senior, junior, sophomore) Major Professional areas of interests/skill sets and strengths Lead-in to your project

Commercial Example Hi, my name is John Zaro and I’m a senior majoring in Information & Computer Science. I’ll be graduating in June and am particularly interested in multiplayer mobile game design for both Android and iOS. This is one of a handful of projects that I have worked on during my time at UCI.

Your demo and description Purpose of project – How did you get the idea? – What was/is your objective? What were your steps (planning, implementation, iterations) – What does is it do and how? – What technologies did you use? Demo your project and summarize *If a group project, all members should be prepared to talk about both the whole and individual roles

Be prepared - FAQs Why did you decide to do this project? What was the biggest challenge/roadblock that you had to overcome? How does this relate to your professional interests/goals? What was it like working in a team setting? In retrospect, what would you have done differently?

Know Your Audience Which companies might drop by? – Check Zotlink for Career Fair attendees – If possible, attend the Career Fair beforehand and let people know you will be presenting Recruiter or engineer (or both)? Prepare for both – Prepare for both the technical and non-technical representative – Focus on what skills/tools you applied and lessons learned

During the Reverse Fair First Impressions – Handshake – Non-verbal communication – Eye contact – Smile – Speak with enthusiasm/use hands Run Your demo & explain your project

During the Fair Ask if they have any questions Ask them questions! – Make sure to talk about other projects or internships, research, start-ups, etc. Ask for a business card or have a sign-in sheet to collect contacts Thank the recruiter, ask if they are taking resumes

After the Fair Get organized Follow-up with company representatives Be patient

What to Wear Professional attire Be comfortable Neat, clean, and pressed Simple and conservative is usually best