Standing out at a Career Fair can make a difference in your career search. Job 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 Dice has 82 career faires scheduled for this year across the US.
How do you compete at a Job Fair? The rivalry can be substantial, but you can help yourself leap out from the herd with advance homework. At AA-Careers, we have a simple 6-step process to prepare. Plan to go? Here’s how to prepare:
First, research the companies that are going and pick your targets. Use the World Wide Web to research the companies that are there beforehand. Go to their internet sites and see if they have their openings listed. Pick a limited number to go after, and get ready to spend up to an hour researching each one. It’s hard to do more than 10 in a day, and four to six is a much more reasonable target. For each hiring company, 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 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 organization is looking for. Create a mapping of your accomplishments and skills to the prerequisites 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 likely organization/position combination. Write down a sixty second ‘thumbnail’ that you can repeat verbally showing why you are a fantastic candidate 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 job you’re going after. 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 Job Faire, the purpose of your resume is a sales tool for you – to get you on-site job interviews. It should be a no-brainer to see that you’re a fit 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 distinctly tagged 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 well groomed. Avoid strong cologne or perfume…use any cologne or scent sparingly, if at all.
Remember to smile, and good hunting!