Standing out at a Career Fair can make a difference in your career search. Career Fairs 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 Career Fair in January, 10 companies as showing up, and a major job search company has 82 career faires scheduled for this year across the US.
How do you compete at a Job Faire? The contention can be substantial, but you can help yourself stand out from the bunch with advance planning. At AA-Careers, we have a simple six-step process to get ready. Plan to go? Here’s how to prepare:
First, investigate the companies that are going and pick your targets. Use the internet to research the organizations that are there before you even decide to go. Go to their internet sites and see if they have their job openings posted. Pick a sensible number to go after, and get ready to spend up to an hour researching each one. It’s hard to do more than 9 in a day, and three or four 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’ll 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 requirements of the job. Make the nomenclature match. If the hiring company calls customers "clients", your resume should do the same thing. The accomplishments should be written in the style of the hiring organization.
Third, create a ‘thumbnail sales pitch’ for each likely organization/position combination. Write down a sixty second ‘thumbnail’ that you can repeat out loud depicting why you are a special prospect for that job. 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 Job Fair, the purpose of your resume is a sales tool for you – to get you on-site job interviews. It should be obvious to see that you’re a match based on your resume.
Fifth, 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 distinctly marked 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 fittingly groomed. Avoid strong cologne or perfume…use any eau de cologne or perfume meagerly, if at all.
Remember to smile, and good hunting!
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