Competing Successfully at a Career Faire
Standing out at a Career Fair can make a difference in your career search. Career Fairs are starting to pick up, and Dice is running some nice ones, called Targeted Job Fairs. At a Bay Area Career Fair in January, 10 companies as showing up, and Dice has 82 career fairs scheduled for this year across the US.
How do you rise above the crowd at a Job Faire? The rivalry can be sizeable, but you can help yourself stick out from the herd with early preparation. At AA-Careers, we have a straight-forward 6-step process to prepare. Plan to go? Here’s how to prepare:
First, research the companies that are going and pick your objectives. Use the web to research the companies that are there ahead of time. Go to their websites and see if they have their jobs listed. Pick a sensible number to go after, and get ready to spend an hour or more researching each one. It’s hard to do more than seven in a day, and three to five is a much more reasonable target. For each hiring organization, 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 postings on the web, read them to see what the hiring manager is looking for. Create a mapping of your accomplishments and skills to the requirements of the job. Make the language match. If the hiring company 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 ‘brief sales pitch’ for each potential organization/position combination. Write down a sixty second ‘thumbnail’ that you can repeat out loud describing why you are a great prospect for that position. You’ll use this in your resume and when you meet the company at the job kiosk.
Fourth, modify your resume for each opportunity. The objective on your resume should exactly match the position you’re aiming for. 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 Faire, 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, 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, practice your ‘mini-sales-pitch’. Collect your research and the resume for each opportunity – bring a couple of copies for each – and put each in a understandably labeled folder. Keep them in a light briefcase or folio.
Remember to smile, and good hunting!
