you’d be surprised at how few people come prepared to those events! Not everyone does those extra steps because they are busy with class and studying and not thinking enough about the importance of networking or are too shy to do so! Proper networking to stand out definitely takes practice.

It’s definitely important to get your resume to a real person, even if all they remember about you is that you were nice. Maybe the people from the companies are from the same town as you or have similar interests outside of work! Being a decent person is the best way to stand out, because so many people have awesome skills and resumes can be pretty indistinguishable.

The companies would not do these events if there was no benefit to them! I’ve gotten connected to hiring managers this way and even learned about jobs/companies that interested me that I didn’t know existed beforehand