Career Fair Season - A Feb Trip to Indy ✈️
Date: 02/17/2026 - 02/19/2026
Event: Business Trip to Indy
I had an early 6am flight which waking up early is not a big deal considering I wake up at 5am usually for my morning runs. So, I make it to the airport, grabbed Starbucks, and knock out for the duration of my flight. Once the flight had landed, I grabbed an Uber to Parlor Doughnuts to grab a sweet treat for the office to enjoy. There was no rental car this trip because it was like $800 for the 2.5 days I was there (absolutely insane pricing). Either way from Parlor Doughnuts I went to the Indy office to work out of there for my first day in Indiana.
Walking into the office my boots were shaking! The introvert in me was throwing up because although this is the same company, I wasn't as familiar with the employees and I can be kinda socially awkward lol. Anyways I grab a random desk on the sales floor and chatted with a few employees (everybody was super nice), and did my work as usual. After work, I was highly indecisive on dinner and it took me an hour and a half to decide to get a burger in the downtown area. Before dinner though I walked into the cutest shop to get a quick souvenir to remember my trip by. After dinner, I headed back to the hotel and that was the end of day 1, nothing exciting.
Second day, I wake up at 5am and went for a simple 5 mile run around town. Normally I would be kind of scared and would have ran on a treadmill at the hotel but Carmel is known for being very safe. On the run, it was my first time experiencing large chunks of ice just being on the sidewalk which I hated having to run on the grass around it. Got back to the hotel, got ready, and headed into the office where I spent my first 1.5 hours. We left for the career fair at Ball State University around 930am since it was an hour away. We get there and it starts off kinda slow but it picks up after an hour or so. I put myself to work! After my very mid recruiting performance at FSU, I wanted to step up my game especially since this whole trip was on the company card. So, I'm getting these students attention in various ways, assessing them for company fit, etc. It ends up slowing down again, so I decide I'm going to walk around to meet the students (introvert me was shaking but as a person with a full-time job with relative success these kids probably wanted to talk to me more to get a job so I wasn't as intimidated). It was a success, I would walk up from behind and walk alongside them, chatting them up, handing out my business cards, & getting resumes from those that had one.
My social battery was kinda dying by the end but on our way out, I see a guy walking in the same direction so my assumption was that he was a student so I start talking to him. He was in fact a lecturer at Ball State and we made small talk (he was very cute but too bad he lived in Indiana of all places). We drove back to the office and I worked for the last 2 hours of my work day. While I was there I asked around for dinner recommendations and the office General Manager suggested a place called Savor. Immediately after work ended, my uber took me to downtown Carmel where the restaurant was located. Now, with my whole mindset of trying to new things I also include trying new foods. I ask the server what his favorite meal was on the menu and ended up having a veal bolognese. I didn't know if it was because I was halfway through my first drink (called Spa Day because I deserved it after the career fair, duh) but this bolognese was AMAZING. Ate dinner with no rush, just truly savoring the meal and I got a second drink (which I put on my personal card because I have to be mindful of spend on the company card) and I was feeling GREAT. Maybe because I didn't really eat much, plus I ran fasted, & then walked around a lot. I had to tell myself to pause and not get a 3rd especially since I was alone in a different city so I wrapped up dinner then headed back to the hotel.
Day 3 was of course kicked off with a short 3 mile run then heading into the office for a half day. I left the office at noon to head over to the airport. Coincidentally, Kevin (the company's Director of Ops, also like a work dad to me) had his layover in the Indy airport so after about 15 minutes of me getting to the airport we meet up and go to a bar near our gate and got drinks to celebrate his birthday which he was spending in an airport with his prior HR intern (definitely an interesting way to celebrate turning 42). Either way, we get back onto our flight back home to Fort Myers which concluded my first work trip (at least in a different state) of 2026. I am grateful that my job is able to provide me with these kind of experiences to travel to different places. Hopefully they send me to South Carolina next to visit that new office !!
Comments
Post a Comment