Scale
The Career Conference runs over two days each fall and again in February, drawing several hundred employers to the Ironclad Fieldhouse and the surrounding halls. It is built for a polytechnic student body: manufacturing, engineering, technology, design, health, education, hospitality, and business recruiters in one place, hiring for co-ops, internships, and full-time roles.
Fall vs. spring
The fall conference is the main event for full-time roles for graduating seniors and for next-summer internships — large employers with structured programs recruit early here. The February conference leans toward summer internships, smaller and regional employers, and public-sector and nonprofit organizations that hire later.
Before: register and prepare
Student registration opens weeks ahead in PorterConnect. Upload a current résumé (get it reviewed at a drop-in first), search the attending-employer list, and build a short priority list — the students who get the most out of it target 8 to 12 employers rather than wandering. Prepare a thirty-second introduction and one specific question for each target.
During: how to work the floor
Start with a second-tier target to warm up, not your top choice. Lead with a real sentence about why their work interests you, hand over a résumé, ask your question, and get a name and a next step. Take notes between conversations — by employer thirty you will not remember employer three. Dress one notch above the field norm; the career closet lends professional clothing free.
On-campus interviews
Many employers hold first-round interviews on campus the day after each conference in dedicated interview rooms. If a conversation goes well, ask whether they are interviewing the next day and how to get on the schedule. Block that day in your calendar before the conference in case.
After: follow up
Within 24 hours, email each employer you spoke with — reference the specific thing you discussed, attach your résumé again, and confirm any next step. Complete any online application they pointed you to; the conversation does not replace it. Log every contact in PorterConnect so you can track responses.
If you are a first- or second-year
Go anyway. Early-year students who attend get comfortable with the format, learn what employers ask, and sometimes land a first internship. Recruiters remember a sophomore who showed up prepared and came back as a junior.
Fictional information
UW–Porter Falls is a work of parody. Every office, person, building, phone number and statistic on this page is invented; nothing here describes a real institution or a service you can actually contact.