How to Succeed at Career Faires
Standing out at a Career Faire can make a difference in your search. Career Faires are starting to pick up, and Dice is running some nice ones, called Targeted Job Fairs. At a San Jose Area Job Fair in early 2010, 10 companies as showing up, and Dice has 82 job fairs scheduled for this year across the United States.
How do you rise above the crowd at a Job Faire? The rivalry can be significant, but you can help yourself stick out from the herd with early planning. At AA-Careers, we have a simplified step-by-step process to get ready. Plan to go? Here’s how to prepare:
First, investigate the companies that are going and pick your objectives. Use the web to research the companies that are there before you go. Go to their web sites and see if they have their job openings posted. Pick a sound number to target, and get ready to spend an hour researching each one. It’s hard to do more than 9 in a day, and four to six is a much more reasonable target. For each hiring organization, you want to know: executive names, recent news, and key product lines. Try to see if you know anyone at the target companies. You will end up with with a page or two of research for each company/job.
Second, if there are job postings on the web, read them to see what the company is looking for. Create a mapping of your accomplishments and skills to the demands of the job. Make the nomenclature match. If the hiring organization calls customers "clients", your resume should do the same thing. The accomplishments should be written in the style of the hiring company.
Third, create a ‘short sales pitch’ for each potential organization/job combination. Write down a 60 second ‘thumbnail’ that you can repeat out loud depicting why you are a key candidate for that job. You’ll use this in your resume and when you meet people at the job kiosk.
Fourth, modify your resume for each job type. The objective on your resume should exactly match the position you’re going after. The executive summary should be a written form of your “mini sales pitch” for the job. Then choose the accomplishments and skills that most clearly match the job prerequisites. Especially at a Job Fair, the purpose of your resume is a sales tool for you – to get you on-site job interviews. It should be quick to see that you’re a match based on your resume.
Fifth, dress and prepare as if you’re doing on-site interviews. Dress nicely and be fittingly groomed. Don’t overdress (this isn’t a date!) and don’t underdress (no jeans or t-shirts, no matter how much you paid for them). Avoid strong cologne or perfume.
Finally, rehearse your ‘mini-sales-pitch’. Collect your research and the resume for each spot – bring a couple of copies for each – and put each in a distinctly marked folder. Keep them in a light briefcase or folio.
Remember to smile, and good hunting!
