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 Letter 7 Planning a Career October 1, 2000 

Life in most of the University campuses in the US is full of activity and there's not a single day when people are not busy with meetings, presentations and seminars. It's a great way to be a part of scientific communities, intellectual pools and making good contacts. I guess one of the most important things that one looks forward to after graduating or finishing education at the University is a job or probably an Internship during education (which is legal and permitted on F-1 visa). Participation in an Internship program is one of the most enriching experiences of student life which offers immense opportunities to learn and experiment and carries the plusses of being preferred by the same company for final recruitment. I was always anxious for pursuing this plan of interning in an IT company and polishing my skills, and very soon I guess one of the most anticipated events on campus "The Career Showcase" was going to be held which was supposed to host about a thousand companies from different parts of the US coming together to interact with students and talk about possible recruitment opportunities. This is common in most of the campuses in the US and most of them are host to likes of Microsoft, Intel, IBM, Andersen Consulting (who i guess are changing there name from January 2001) and others which I guess are companies many Indian students cherish to work for.

After a prolonged consultation and presence at the Career Resource Center (the hub of recruitment activity at every university and the force behind the career fairs) at the University I realized that the biggest emphasis for making an impact is on the resume. Strangely I guess things are very different when it comes to resume making for US employers and Indian employers. In India it was a rare instance for me to come across a resume less than 2 pages (well I remember myself having a 2 1/2 page resume inspite of just having 6 months of work experience after my education), but here 99% of the resumes are of 1 page length with very few exceptions. I was really challenged by the task of conveying my background in a 8 1/2 " x 11 " piece of paper which took me about a day of work. Finally I did land with a resume which looked good. Employers in the US very much appreciate focus, clarity and conciseness.

The next day was I guess one of the most eventful days of my life with loads of interaction and communication with representatives of different companies, informal interviews, chats and a lots of t-shirts and freebies. I discussed my career objectives with them at length and also my background and expertise in exhange of which they apprised me of the rigor and content of their programs and the skill set they were looking for. I learned a lot from the day's experience and am sure better prepared and clear as well as looking forward to the opportunity when during the next semester (ie Spring) another showcase will be held with companies selecting interns for Summer 2001 (the semester I intend to intern).

Past this event, I was back to normal school and classes, my work (I guess I discussed earlier my part time job) at the library was really not professionally satisfying and fortunately during one of these days of discontent I came across an opportunity of working as a grader for grading assignments and homework, I found this challenging and more related to my work and took it up. Contrary to India, where I barely saw a professor being assisted by 1-2 students for his work, professors in the US have a fleet of people assisting them in their work. They include Teaching Assistants, Student Consultants and Graders for Teaching work and another group of Research Assistants for Research work. The education system is very much hierarchical and systematic with specific assignments of duties to specific students. It sure is a surprising and enriching experience.

Though life was keeping me occupied, there were times when I experiencesd bouts of nostalgia and the feeling of missing home was very disturbing and also interruptive in work. During these stages I made it a point to visit a temple close by and seek blessings of god to empower me for being strong and able to face challenges. I am really lucky to have a small temple (actually a meditation center sponsored by ISKCON-the International Society for Krishna Conciousness) close by. Temples in the US are fairly common especially in big cities where there is a large Indian popluation. Another exciting thing about the Krishna Temple here is that they arrange a vegetarian feast every Monday, Wednesday and Friday which is a kind of community cooking with donations from Indian people and the food is awesome with Indian flavor. It sure makes me forget home for some time or probably reminds me of my Mom who cooks so well !!

  Letter 6 Nitin Ahuja Letter 8  

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