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Engineering Graduate Studies

Jayachandra Kolapalli (Chemical Enginering)

"take the Career Fair seriously and remove all the misconceptions that it is meant for undergraduate students only."

"I am a graduate research assistant at UT with Chemical Engineering as major. Prior to this, I have two years of industrial experience in a petroleum refinery in India. Although I started looking for full time chemical engineering opportunities since August this year, I did attend the Spring 2018 Career Fair at UT.

It served as a good experience because I realized what homework needs to be done before attending a career fair. A few of them to mention are - shortlisting all the companies that were looking for chemical engineers, knowing about the company's profile, looking for current openings on their websites, writing notes on relating my research and industrial experience to their requirements. In addition to these, the Career Prep Lab conducted in September by the Office of Graduate Studies and Research helped me a lot in making necessary changes to my resume. Although I was one among most of the grad students with the common cliche perception that the Career Fair was meant for only undergraduate students, I did not lose hope and took it seriously. 

jayachandra

Yes, there were a few companies that were not ready to hire international students due to visa sponsorship problems, but I made sure that I spoke to all the companies that were looking for chemical engineers. I also took the business cards of all those people to whom I spoke and sent them thank you emails. After about a month, I heard back from Monroe Environmental and an on-site interview was scheduled with HR and the Plant Engineer. The first thing the HR representative told me was that he was really impressed by UT students' dressing attire during the Career Fair. They were really happy when I told them that UT helps its students a lot in finding good career opportunities by organizing career prep sessions. They were impressed by my research and industrial experience and therefore scheduled the final interview round with the General Manager of the company. After two weeks I received a confirmation email from them saying that they would like to hire me. 
I would like to express my gratitude to Andrea Joldrichsen and Daniela Somaroo as it was their support and encouragement that helped me in getting this job. My take-home message to all grad students is to take the Career Fair seriously and remove all the misconceptions that it is meant for undergraduate students only."
Last Updated: 9/21/23