How to Prepare for In-Person GHC: What to Pack, the Career Fair, and More!
GHC is back in Orlando, FL! ☀️
After two years of virtual Grace Hopper Celebration (GHC), the largest women in computing conference in the world is back in-person this upcoming September. I had the opportunity to attend the 2019 GHC with a scholarship from my alma mater, Brown University.
For students who wants to make the most of GHC (and hopefully land their dream job), many don’t know what to expect because the last in-person GHC happened two years ago.
If this sounds like you, keep reading!
In this article, I will discuss my experience and share advice — from what I should have packed to how to navigate the largest career fair you could possibly experience.
Travel Preparations
Flights ✈️ :
- Book flights and hotel early!! Besides hosting GHC, Orlando is also home to top theme parks and a popular vacation destination year-round. Don’t wait until the last minute.
- Fly with other attendees if possible to share Uber/Lyft cost to and from airport (especially if there are other students from your school going!)
Hotels 🏨 :
💡 If you can, book through the GHC website: Hotel and Venue
- AnitaB.org has discounted rates for hotels and offer free shuttle service
- Find roommates, if possible. I had a room with two Queen beds and shared with 3 other female students. While I had to share the bed with someone, it significantly cut down the cost.
- Plan how to get to the Conference from your hotel (and back) if you are not booking via the GHC website
- I do not suggest walking more than 15–20 mins since the weather can be very humid and warm. This is also about personal safety — I personally don’t like walking alone in an unfamiliar place and always try use a reputable ride-share service after dark.
Packing 🧳 :
- ❗️Bring comfortable and cool clothing, maybe a light sweater for indoors. Orlando is very humid outside, but the AC inside the conference halls can also be cold if you stay indoors for a long time.
- ❗️Comfortable shoes 👟 is a MUST: you will be on your feet for HOURS each day. The career fair and interview halls have some distance and you might walk back and forth many times.
- A tote or backpack 🎒 to carry personal items at the conference (i.e. for your resumes and swag)
- Check the weather forecast: bring umbrella or raincoat if needed
Other optional but useful items:
- sunscreen
- bandaids — for blisters relief or other minor accidents
- pain-relief meds
- portable charger — pretty sure you can find one as a swag item but bring one just in case!
- refillable water bottle — you can also find these as swag items
- hair ties or claw clips
- small pouches for personal items
Career Fair / Afterparties Preparations
Resumes 📄 :
- enter your resume to the GHC database!
- ❗️Bring at least 50 copies of your main resume
- if you have additional resumes specifically tailored to a position (like Product Management or Design), print ample copies too
- ❗️have DIGITAL versions of your resumes (i.e. a PDF version), downloaded onto your phone
- ❗️have SHAREABLE LINKS to your resumes (i.e. a Google Drive shareable link visible to anyone), copy and pasted into your phone notes or memo
- ❗️have your LINKEDIN/PERSONAL PORTFOLIO links ready on your phone. I’d also recommend downloading the LinkedIn mobile app — in the search bar, everyone has a unique QR code to their profile. It makes connecting with people on LinkedIn faster!
- Almost all companies at the career fair will either take a physical copy of your resume, have you scan code/fill out form/digitally submit your resume, or have you take a photo of your resume to submit via a link
- Doing all of the above helps to maximize the numbers of booths you can visit and ensures that you are prepared for any kind of check-in process!
Career Fair 💻 :
- Career fair is HUGE 🤯 … think IKEA-showroom level set-up. Companies will have gigantic banners, backdrops, swag tables, rows of iPads to check in, full-sized furniture, photo props etc.
- PRIORITIZE visiting your top choice companies on day 1. Lines for the most well-known companies tend to get long.
- Keep an open mind! You will come across many companies (other than the big-names) that you may not heard of or don’t usually recruit at your school — stop by their booth and ask about their opportunities.
- Prepare an elevator pitch that includes 1)what type of role you are looking for, 2) some technical project you worked on, and 3) why you want to work at that company
❗️ some companies have last minute on-site interview slots that you can get if a recruiter or company rep at the booth thinks you are high potential
- Getting a last-min interview at the booth is not guaranteed, but it doesn’t hurt to try. Personally, I had more success with getting these last-min interviews with smaller or tech-intersectional companies (such as banks, automobile manufacturers, insurance firms etc) than big-tech. Thus, I’d recommend having a shortlist of small to medium sized companies you want to visit too!
- make sure to drop your resume and check-in at a company’s booth!
Be mindful and respectful when taking swag…even though we all love free things
What do I mean? I have seen swag (like t-shirts) being tossed in the trash. Not a great look for attendees nor environmental sustainability. ☹️
Be considerate when taking swag!
Interview Preparations
Schedule interviews with companies attending GHC if you can! Methods of how to obtain these interviews vary…
- Recruiters may post links on LinkedIn inviting attendees to apply for an interview
- Companies that you already applied to before GHC may reach out and schedule your first, intermediate, or final round interview(s) at GHC
- Companies that you did not already apply to may invite you for an interview because they found your resume from the GHC Resume Database
What are the interviews like? 🤔
- Interviews were held in a different hall, with companies setting up rows and rows of individual enclosed booths. I would head to the interview hall, find the company check-in desk, and someone led me to an interview booth.
- Inside the interview booth: expect some chairs, a table, pen/paper, and a whiteboard
At GHC, companies will conduct interviews across every part of the recruiting process, from first rounds to final rounds. You may…
- have the only or final round(s) → you get offers at or soon-after GHC
- have a first or intermediate round → you receive the decision at or soon-after GHC on whether you move forward for more interviews
- ❗️Study the usual data structures, algorithm, Big-O. Practice and practice using sites like Leetcode and Hackerrank! I personally found Leetcode Premium to be helpful, because I get access to the questions that are tagged by company. This meant that I could focus on practicing questions of similar difficulty/category that has actually been asked at an interview for that company.
- I personally did not have any digital technical interviews at GHC — all technical problems I did were either on paper or whiteboard. Thus, practice writing ✍️ out your code, too.
- Ask clarifying questions before starting to work on the problem — example inputs/outputs, possible edge-cases, etc.
- ❗️Be sure to communicate your thought process and elaborate on WHY you went about your solution. This also applies to knowing the built-in functions of the language you chose to use (i.e. Python or Java libraries).
Behavioral Questions
Prepare for the common behavioral questions:
- tell me about yourself
- walk me through your resume
- tell me about a technical project your worked on or programming course you took
- what are your strengths and weaknesses?
- ❗️why <company>? why engineering at <company>?
- tell me about a time that you demonstrated communication skills/leadership/showed initiative/resolved a conflict/collaborated effectively
Other Tips ✅
- If a company is in another industry like finance, public-sector etc., be sure to take a look at their business principles. For example, the finance industry have strict regulation and emphasizes escalation in all parts of their business, including engineering. Thus, it’s very helpful to know these industry-specific values when going into their interviews.
Afterparties and Evening Events 🎡
Sometimes companies that you interview with will invite you to their after-party events. They are a great opportunity to network with that company’s engineers and recruiters, as well as other attendees. Because these events are hosted at local restaurants or theme parks, they tend to be highly popular.
- They are optional to go to and the company usually will provide transportation
- It’s impossible to attend all of them so you have to pick and choose — it’s likely that you will get multiple invites for a single night (see image below)
- Don’t push yourself to stay out all night — it’s physically exhausting attending the conference during the day and take care of your physical and mental health ❤️ !
Conclusion
Although going to GHC can be stressful, it’s truly an amazing experience meeting thousands of female engineers — from current students to successful professionals.
It’s an incredible event to attend. I highly recommend GHC to any female college student pursuing a career in technology.
Thank you for reading and I hope my article was helpful. There are many other Medium and blog articles that discuss how to prepare for GHC and individual attendee’s reflections — I recommend you to read them too for more perspectives!
Finally, stay safe and I believe in you!
GHC 2022: Attending as a Company Representative
At GHC 2022, I had the opportunity to attend as a company rep to recruit and speak to students at a booth. I spent hours getting to know students and collecting their resumes. Out of the hundreds of the interactions I had with students, only a handful were memorable at the end of each day. After talking to other reps, I realized that I was not alone. Because of this, I wanted to write down the ways that you can truly standout and have a memorable and valuable interaction with a rep.
Elevator Pitch & Know Your Resume
I started the conversation by introducing myself and asking the student to do the same. I specifically listened for graduation year, what role they are interested in, and their majors/minors. These help me understand right away 1) what kind of roles they are seeking, 2) if we are recruiting those roles both at GHC or in general, and 3) who to direct them to at the company booth if I can’t give them the best answer.
I then proceed to ask them to walk me through some technical experiences on their resume — can be coursework, internships, or personal projects. When building software in the real-world, tasks are closely tied with business goals (ie. OKRs). Those who stood out to me not only spoke about the technical implementation work they’ve done, but also understood the impact they made. Whether the impact was optimized time and efficiency, or business growth like increased revenue, be sure to mention that! If you can quantify it, that’s even better.
Furthermore, it’s also important to discuss the purpose of a project and the motivations behind it — what was the old solution and why did it need to be improved.
Do Your Research & Ask Strategic Questions
One of the biggest blunders that students can do when approaching a company rep or recruiter is asking for information that is readily available on our website or careers page. All booths will have informational flyers (with open roles and links) for you to grab. However, I hope all students can walk away from a booth with more than just a flyer or swag. You can really stand out by asking great questions that demonstrate your interest in the company, the industry, the products, and culture. Have some good questions prepared beforehand. For example:
- What technologies and tech stack do you use in every day work?
- I read that your company values <value> — can you give me an example of how that value is fostered at the company?
- Can your give me an example of what interns typically work on? What kind of learning resources are provided to the interns?
If you are someone who already applied to a position but has not heard back, it is near impossible that someone at the booth will look into your specific situation/application.
If this applies to you, my best advice is to reiterate your interest for the position and company. Ask the recruiter or company rep to take down your resume and make a note, if that is possible. There are no guarantee that they will get back to you (both during the conference or after) but it never hurts to be persistent.
Be Personable
As company representatives, we spend hours standing, talking to students, and answering the same questions. It’s a really fun experience, but can be physically exhausting nonetheless.
Thus, it goes a long way to be patient and kind to whomever you speak to. This will also help you to be more memorable. In my experience, company reps and recruiters are allowed to indicate which resumes they view as high potential — this process can look different at every company. Making a positive impression can go a long way and have unexpected benefits!
Stay Positive!
Not all companies will collect resumes, and not all companies will have roles that you are looking for either. It’s a bummer, but it should not lower your interest to learn more about the opportunities at that company or industry! So many students were curious about what engineering looks like at a financial services firm and I had a great time sharing that with them. I think it’s important to have an open-mind at a large conference like GHC because you will always learn something new.
