Competing Successfully at a Job Fair
Standing out at a Job 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 San Jose Area Job Faire in early 2010, 10 companies as showing up, and Dice has 82 job faires scheduled for 2010 across the United States.
How do you get to the real interviews at a Career Fair? The contention can be significant, but you can help yourself surpass from the gang with advance homework. At AA-Careers, we have a straight-forward 6-step process to prepare. Planning to go? Here’s how to prepare:
First, investigate the organizations that are going and pick your objectives. Use the World Wide Web to check out the organizations that are there ahead of time. Go to their web sites and see if they have their job openings posted. Pick a sensible number to go after, and get ready to spend an hour researching each one. It’s hard to do more than 8 in a day, and four or five 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 openings on the web, read them to see what the hiring department is looking for. Create a mapping of your achievements and skills to the demands 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 ninety second ‘thumbnail’ that you can repeat out loud describing why you are a great prospect 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 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 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 quick to see that you’re a fit based on your resume.
Fifth, dress and prepare as if you’re doing on-site interviews. Dress well and be properly 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 spot - bring a couple of copies for each – and put each in a distinctly marked folder. Keep them in a lightweight briefcase or folio.
Remember to smile, and good hunting!
