Competing Successfully at Job Fairs
Standing out at a Career Fair can make a difference in your job hunt. 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 Career Faire in early 2010, 10 companies as showing up, and a major job search company has 82 job faires scheduled for this year across the United States.
How do you compete at a Job Faire? The competition can be considerable, but you can help yourself surpass from the crowd with early preparation. At AA-Careers, we have a simplified 6-step process to get ready. Plan to go? Here’s how to prepare:
First, investigate the organizations 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 openings listed. Pick a limited number to target, and get ready to spend up to 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: key product lines, recent news, and executive names. 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 postings 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 terminology match. If the hiring organization 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 ‘brief 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 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 position. The objective on your resume should exactly match the job 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 prerequisites. 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, 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 clearly tagged folder. Keep them in a lightweight briefcase or folio.
Finally, dress and prepare as if you’re doing on-site interviews. Dress nicely and be well groomed. Avoid strong cologne or perfume…use any eau de cologne or perfume sparingly, if at all.
Remember to smile, and good hunting!
