Competing Successfully at a Job Faire
Standing out at a Career Faire can make a difference in your job 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 January, 10 companies as showing up, and a major job search company has 82 career faires scheduled for 2010 across the States.
How do you stand out at a Career Fair? The rivalry can be significant, but you can help yourself stand out from the crowd with early preparation. At AA-Careers, we have a straight-forward six-step process to get ready. Plan to go? Here’s how to prepare:
First, research the companies that are going and pick your targets. Use the internet to check out the companies that are there before you even decide to go. Go to their web sites and see if they have their job openings listed. Pick a rational number to target, and get ready to spend an hour or more researching each one. It’s hard to do more than seven in a day, and five or six is a much more reasonable target. For each hiring company, you want to know: recent news, key product lines, and exectuve 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 openings 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 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 ‘mini sales pitch’ for each potential company/position combination. Write down a 60 second ‘thumbnail’ that you can repeat verbally showing why you are a fantastic candidate 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 targeting. 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 match based on your resume.
Fifth, dress and prepare as if you’re doing on-site interviews. Dress well and be fittingly groomed. Don’t over do-it (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 position - bring a couple of copies for each – and put each in a clearly tagged folder. Keep them in a light briefcase or folio.
Remember to smile, and good hunting!
