Open House or Reality Television?

I was recently invited to attend an internship open house session with a PR agency I was interested in. The open house began with a series of presentations from account executives and the Atlanta office director. Each of the prospective interns were then given a colored dot that corresponded to a specific question which we answered to the whole group.

After the information session, we all went to a conference room for snacks, drinks and mingling. The mingling ended up feeling more like the first night of The Bachelor to me. All of the intern applicants were vying for "one-on-one" time with the professionals, who were far less in number. There were snacks, but everyone was either too nervous to eat or too worried about being approached with a full mouth. Although there was no rose ceremony, each of us left hoping and praying that someone would remember our name and speak for us.

Luckily, I was offered a second interview with the agency. Despite the awkward, high stress situation, I was very glad I attended the session and met with the members of the agency. It allowed me to really experience their culture and it gave me the opportunity to make someone to remember my name, face and resume.