I’ve been waking up to go to college for four years now, but this morning was different. I had hung out the clothes I would wear today at school. No, it wasn’t the jeans and tees I’ve been wearing ever since I can remember. It was a suit.

I left my house in a hurry and decided to get a cab. No way I was riding the metro in these clothes. The driver asked me what subject I teach at the college.

Things got a lot better when I finally made it outside the College gym. I joined a group of classmates and we started making fun of each others’ clothes. I felt like an animal rejoining its species in the jungle after being injured and left behind.

One hundred fifty Deree Students and I were attending the 2008 Career Forum, one of the biggest event of the academic year for many students, an excellent opportunity for college graduates to get a job, improve their interview skills and make some good contacts.

“Career forum gives you a chance to be interviewed and the opportunity to network,” said Maria Laiou, Coordinator of Career Events. “If a company needs to fill a position, they first come into contact with us and then publish the job opening.”

Career Forum also helps alumni who are still in the pursuit of a job. “A company participating in last year’s Career Forum kept my CV and offered me a job a month ago,” said Nikol Vlachos.

One hundred four companies visited the 2008 Career Forum, where 225 positions were available. Deree graduates were interviewed by multinational companies such as Microsoft, Johnson and Johnson, L’Oreal, as well as by Greek companies such as Kotsovolos and Korres. Fifty percent of these companies come to the event every year.

The office of Career Services organizes resume editing workshops and mock interviews throughout the spring semester. Human resources people evaluate participants’ performance and give them valuable advice on how to do better on company visitation day.

At the forum, students get to see which areas present employment opportunities and what companies require from their employees. More importantly, they get a pretty good idea of whether they are equipped enough to go out there and become successful.

“I was happy to see that most companies had openings for marketers,” said Valia Gklava, a marketing senior. “I was even happier to see that I was very familiar with the terms and issues I was interviewed about.”

The company representatives were handed the resumes of all participants in advance. Once a student asked for an interview, they could go over the CV and interview the candidate. “I was really nervous at first, but representatives helped me relax,” said Maria Sorfonas. “They made it more like a conversation rather than an interview.”

After about ten interviews, I left the gym smiling. I walked through the main gate and, although I thought I would get in a cab and run home to change, I decided to sit for a coffee at the cafe across the street. Suddenly the suit seemed less alien. Suddenly it was if I was more confident. And if the suit symbolizes life after college, as one representative told me at the forum, then maybe I was more ready for it than I thought.