How to Get Noticed at Career Fairs
Standing out at a Career Faire can make a difference in your job search. Career Faires are starting to pick up, and a major job search company is running some nice ones, called Targeted Job Fairs. At a Bay Area Career Fair in early 2010, 10 companies as showing up, and a major job search company has 82 job fairs scheduled for 2010 across the States.
How do you get to the real interviews at a Job Faire? The rivalry can be substantial, but you can help yourself stick out from the crowd with advance preparation. At AA-Careers, we have a simple six-step process to prepare. Planning to go? Here’s how to prepare:
First, investigate the companies that are going and pick your targets. Use the World Wide Web to check out the organizations that are there before you go. Go to their internet sites and see if they have their job openings posted. Pick a small number to target, and get ready to spend an hour or more researching each one. It’s hard to do more than 10 in a day, and four or five is a much more reasonable target. For each hiring organization, you want to know: recent news, key product lines, and contacts you know. Try to see if you know anyone at the target companies. You should 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 hiring manager is looking for. Create a mapping of your achievements and skills to the demands of the job. Make the language match. If the hiring organization calls customers "clients", your resume should do the same thing. The achievements should be written in the style of the hiring company.
Third, create a ‘mini sales pitch’ for each potential company/job combination. Write down a ninety second ‘thumbnail’ that you can repeat out loud describing why you are a good candidate for that position. You’ll use this in your resume and when you meet the team from the company at the job stall.
Fourth, modify your resume for each job type. The objective on your resume should exactly match the job you’re targeting. 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 description. 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 simple to see that you’re a match based on your resume.
Fifth, rehearse your ‘mini-sales-pitch’. Collect your research and the resume for each position - bring a couple of copies for each – and put each in a distinctly labeled folder. Keep them in a light briefcase or folio.
Finally, dress and prepare as if you’re doing on-site interviews. Dress well and be fittingly groomed. Avoid strong cologne or perfume…use any eau de cologne or fragrance meagerly, if at all.
Remember to smile, and good hunting!
