As I write this, droves of MIT students, sharply dressed in suits, are making their way to the largest of MIT's annual career fairs.

Today, 300 companies are on campus trying to recruit MIT students to come work for them, or to do a summer internship. The companies span the spectrum from tradional engineering companies like Ford and Raytheon to service organizations like the Peace Corps and Teach For America. Here's a smapling of some of the many, many employers on campus today:

• Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)
• iRobot
• Biogen Idec
• Bose
• Goldman Sachs
• Veolia Water Solutions & Technologies
• US Patent and Trademark Office
• Google
• Los Alamos National Laboratory
• Nokia
• Darby & Darby, P.C.
• Rolls-Royce
• Harvard University
• National Security Agency (NSA)
• Bank of America
• Xanga.com
• Children's Hospital Boston
• US Department of Energy
• McKinsey & Company
• Microsoft

...and that's just a sampling.

When I was looking at colleges, I remember wondering if MIT graduates only went to work for technical companies. I later learned that's not the case at all (by looking at the list of companies that recruit on campus, or lists of alumni, for example). Certainly companies involved with biotech and computers are popular, but so are opportunities in finance, the federal government, and much more. According to statistics from the MIT Careers Office, in recent years, the companies that have hired the most MIT students include management consulting firms McKinsey and Bain, software companies Google and Microsoft, engineering companies Raytheon and General Electric, and investment banks Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley.

Leading up to the Career Fair, the MIT Careers Office has a Career Week (and now, since that's been so popular, a "Pre Career Week") to prepare resumes, do mock interviews, learn how to research a company, how to network, and more. Career Week also includes a variety of banquets, company information sessions, and networking opportunities.

For our seniors, it will be nice for many of them to have a job lined up a month into senior year, almost a year in advance. For the underclassmen, Career Week is a great first opportunity to line up internships for the summer and for IAP.

I remember Career Week being both daunting and exciting when I was a student. Much like the college admissions process, the job recruiting process was filled with thousands of options and no one clear path. But with the right advice and a bit of self-knowledge and introspection, navigating the process can be quite worthwhile.

So, if you see an MIT student in a suit today, you know what's going on. Wish them well with their job hunt.

Comments (Closed after 30 days to reduce spam)

hy i'm a student from Romania and i would like to find some information about MIT from an MIT student, so if you are willing to help me please e-mail me...lots of thanks...

Posted by: mike on September 21, 2006

Matt, I just saw you in front of the student center! I was going to say hello and I was also going to go to the career fair (just for fun) but...problem sets. :'-(

Posted by: Christina on September 21, 2006

Hello!
I am currently a freshman in high school in Atlanta, but I've wanted to attend MIT for a while now. I was wondering how the carrer fair was and how one prepares for it. What exactly do the employers want and---well what do I do?
It'd great if you write back. My email's sanjay692@gmail.com.
Thanks so much,
Sanjay

Posted by: Sanjay on September 23, 2006

That's so cool! Even the NSA comes to MIT to recruit! They're all secretive and what not...

Posted by: Dan on September 24, 2006

iam from india . here we dont have much awareness to enter in to the MIT. can i know it please

Posted by: sandeep on September 25, 2006

Hey "Mike" i'm from Romania too, wish you best in the admission process.
QUESTION: Does CIA recruites international students?

Posted by: Stefan on September 25, 2006

Add a comment

Comments have been closed.