How to Stand out at Job Faires
Standing out at a Job Faire can make a difference in your job hunting. Career Fairs are starting to pick up, and Dice is running some nice ones, called Targeted Job Fairs. At a Bay Area Career Faire in January, 10 companies as showing up, and Dice has 82 career faires scheduled for 2010 across the United States.
How do you compete at a Career Faire? The rivalry can be significant, but you can help yourself leap out from the gang with early preparation. At AA-Careers, we have a straight-forward 6-step process to get ready. Planning to go? Here’s how to prepare:
First, investigate the organizations that are going and pick your objectives. 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 jobs posted. Pick a reasonable number to go after, and get ready to spend about an hour researching each one. It’s hard to do more than ten in a day, and three or four is a much more reasonable target. For each 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 should 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 accomplishments and skills to the demands of the job. Make the nomenclature 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 ‘brief sales pitch’ for each potential organization/position combination. Write down a sixty second ‘thumbnail’ that you can repeat out loud depicting why you are a great prospect for that job. You’ll use this in your resume and when you meet the team from the company at the job stall.
Fourth, modify your resume for each opportunity. The objective on your resume should exactly match the position you’re want. 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 requirements. 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 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 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 position – bring a couple of copies for each – and put each in a clearly marked folder. Keep them in a lightweight briefcase or folio.
Remember to smile, and good hunting!
