How to Compete at Career Fairs
Standing out at a Job Fair can make a difference in your career search. Career Faires are starting to pick up, and Dice is running some nice ones, called Targeted Job Fairs. At a San Jose Area Career Faire in January, 10 companies as showing up, and a major job search company has 82 career fairs scheduled for 2010 across the United States.
How do you get to the real interviews at a Job Fair? The competition can be noteworthy, but you can help yourself surpass from the gang with advance homework. At AA-Careers, we have a simple 6-step process to prepare. Planning to go? Here’s how to prepare:
First, investigate the companies that are going and pick your objectives. Use the web to check out the companies that are there before you go. Go to their web sites and see if they have their job openings listed. Pick a rational number to go after, and get ready to spend up to an hour researching each one. It’s hard to do more than 8 in a day, and five or six is a much more reasonable target. For each hiring company, you want to know: key product lines, recent news, and executive names. Try to see if you know anyone at the target companies. You’ll end up with a page or two of research for each company/job.
Second, if there are job openings on the web, read them to see what the organization 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 organization.
Third, create a ‘short sales pitch’ for each likely company/position combination. Write down a 90 second ‘thumbnail’ that you can repeat out loud showing why you are a special prospect for that position. You’ll use this in your resume and when you meet people at the job stall.
Fourth, modify your resume for each job type. The objective on your resume should exactly match the job you’re want. The executive summary should be a written form of your “mini sales pitch” for the job. Then choose the achievements and skills that most clearly match the job description. Especially at a Career Fair, the purpose of your resume is a sales tool for you – to get you on-site job interviews. It should be very easy to see that you’re a match based on your resume.
Fifth, practice 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 intelligibly marked folder. Keep them in a light briefcase or folio.
Finally, dress and prepare as if you’re doing on-site interviews. Dress nicely and be properly groomed. Avoid strong cologne or perfume…use any cologne or perfume sparingly, if at all.
Remember to smile, and good hunting!