But yesterday's post was so therapeutic that I thought I could save on psychiatry bills by doing another Cornell-based post today.
You're already familiar with the article I wrote for the Cornell Law School Tower on the Cornell Law School tower, but you may not yet have come across my piece for the same publication entitled--quite appropriately--"Expert Rates Job Fair Fare."
In this piece, I explain the intricacies of job fair catering, and give future job-seekers in the legal field the tools they need to plan their future job fair schedules. Because thousands of new law students will begin their studies in September, I thought I'd better get this out now so they can start planning accordingly.
Please enjoy "Expert Rates Job Fair Fare," originally published in the spring of 1999.
Expert Rates Job Fair Fare
| Snapple: does anyone still drink this stuff? |
I was hunched over a starched linen tablecloth at the San Francisco Crowne Plaza, cookie in my mouth and peach Snapple by my side. It was my tenth cookie and fourth Snapple; not bad considering we'd had lunch a half hour earlier.
Audrey Woon, class of 2000, glared at me, which was not surprising, since it was not the first time I'd made a pig of myself at a job fair. "You should do an article on job fair food for The Tower," she said. "You could call it "'Seven Job Fairs, Seven Pounds.'" With a title like that, how could I refuse?
In reality, I only attended four job fairs. And truthfully, I probably gained more like seventy pounds from the "free" food subsidized by my tuition dollars. But the fact remains, I am the hands-down Cornell expert on job fair fare, and I will now attempt to rate the spreads I was fortunate enough to experience. In keeping with the rigorous standards of Cornell Law School, I will award letter grades to the various fairs that, when averaged, yield a perfect 3.3.
New York, Royal Rihga Hotel
While the atmosphere at the New York Job Fair was intense, charged, and competitive, the food was bland, nondescript, and quite frankly, absent.
Morning: if you wanted anything for breakfast, you had to get up early, because by 9 a.m., there wasn't much left. What was left was likely to be swept away by a tuxedo-clad waiter before you could say "bagel with cream cheese." The key word here was dainty (read skimpy): microscopic muffins, inconsequential croissants, banal bagels (full-sized, but cut in half), and not much else.
Afternoon: nada--just water and iced tea. Cheapos.
Grade: C- (Which, coincidentally, was my grade in Civil Procedure)
 |
| Scene of the culinary crime: New York's Royal Rihga Hotel. |
Los Angeles, Hotel Sofitel
This hotel is one pretentious place, and I suppose it would be a miracle if it were not, given its location across the street from the Beverly Center in Beverly Hills. The Sofitel tries hard, with royal blue canopies, doormen in pseudo-Renaissance livery, and enormous paintings in a style best described as Fauve-Impressionist-Van Gogh-Swirls-Here-and-There.
But the food wasn't bad.
| Sofitel Los Angeles: keep those chocolate-covered macaroons coming. |
Morning: we were greeted with a selection of crisp croissants and gooey, very American cinnamon rolls served with fresh-squeezed orange juice and a variety of jams and jellies. The best part was that the staff kept the selection replenished throughout the morning.
Afternoon: cookies and iced tea. Kudos, again, to the staff, for keeping the cookies re-stocked. Most of them were nothing special--in fact, the pecan shortbread was nasty. But the Sofitel saved its rating with its chocolate-covered macaroons. These were truly a feast for the eye and the palate: a triangular white cookie, oozing moist coconut, dipped in rich, semi-sweet chocolate. Divine. But because I made the mistake of singing these cookies' praises too early, I only got one.
Grade: B
| Sofitel Beverly Hills: chichi blue awnings can only take you so far. |
San Francisco, Crowne Plaza Hotel
This hotel was once a Holiday Inn, so fortunately, it didn't take itself as seriously as the two previous institutions.
Morning: fresh-squeezed orange juice, a variety of Danish pastries (the blueberry ones were especially good), croissants (better consistency than L.A.), and orange-cranberry muffins (almost as good as one I paid about five bucks for in some trendy eatery selected by Benita Lee, class of '99, in Venice Beach two days earlier).
Afternoon: individual bottles of Snapple! They were simply, but tastefully, served in a tub of crushed ice, and while they may not have packed the panache of iced tea, they hit the spot.
And the cookies that came with them! Amazing! Big, chewy rounds of chocolate-chocolate chip, oatmeal raisin, and peanut butter. Pure heaven, but combined with the syrupy Snapple, they left us all in imminent danger of insulin shock.
Grade: A-
| From Holiday Inn to job fair Valhalla: the San Francisco Crowne Plaza |
Miami, Hotel Intercontinental
This was not so much a job fair as a mini-vacation. There were only three Cornellians in attendance, and yes, we enjoyed ourselves.
The hotel is located right on Biscayne Bay, and the interviewers' rooms had some gorgeous views. The atmosphere here was the polar opposite of that of the New York Job Fair: these interviewers seemed genuinely impressed we went to Cornell.
Morning and afternoon: it was an all-day buffet of watermelon, cantaloupe, blueberries, bagels, cream cheese, orange juice, croissants, muffins, teas, and soft drinks in chilled, 16-ounce bottles. In fact, the sheer volume and variety of refreshment available make it impossible for me to mention everything.
The most amazing thing, however, is that when we got ready to go to lunch--at about 1 p.m.--there was still so much food on the buffet that we didn't bother to leave the hotel. And they kept the food coming until the bitter (bittersweet, actually) end.
Grade: A+
| Miami vice: job fair buffet at the Hotel Intercontinental |
I hope this information will prove useful in selecting the job fairs you will attend next year. Until then, bon appetit!
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