How to Stand out at Job Faires
Standing out at a Job Fair can make a difference in your 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 SF Bay Area Job Faire in January, 10 companies as showing up, and Dice has 82 career faires scheduled for 2010 across the States.
How do you stand out at a Career Faire? The contention can be sizeable, but you can help yourself jump out from the bunch with early preparation. At AA-Careers, we have a simplified 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 internet to check out the organizations that are there before you even decide to go. Go to their websites and see if they have their job openings posted. Pick a moderate number to target, and get ready to spend an hour researching each one. It’s hard to do more than 7 in a day, and 3-5 is a much more reasonable target. For each 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 postings on the web, read them to see what the hiring manager is looking for. Create a mapping of your achievements and skills to the prerequisites 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 organization.
Third, create a ‘thumbnail sales pitch’ for each potential company/position combination. Write down a ninety second ‘thumbnail’ that you can repeat out loud showing why you are a great 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 position. 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 accomplishments and skills that most clearly match the job description. Especially at a Career 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 fit based on your resume.
Fifth, dress and prepare as if you’re doing on-site interviews. Dress nicely 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 opportunity - bring a couple of copies for each – and put each in a understandably tagged folder. Keep them in a lightweight briefcase or folio.
Remember to smile, and good hunting!
