Getting Noticed at Job Fairs
Standing out at a Career Faire can make a difference in your 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 San Jose Area Job Faire in early 2010, 10 companies as showing up, and Dice has 82 job fairs scheduled for 2010 across the US.
How do you get to the real interviews at a Job Fair? The contention can be sizeable, but you can help yourself jump out from the gang with advance preparation. At AA-Careers, we have a simplified step-by-step process to prepare. Planning to go? Here’s how to prepare:
First, research the companies that are going and pick your targets. Use the web to research the organizations that are there beforehand. Go to their sites and see if they have their openings posted. Pick a reasonable number to go after, and get ready to spend an hour researching each one. It’s hard to do more than 8 in a day, and 3-5 is a much more reasonable target. For each company, you want to know: executive names, recent news, and key product lines. 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 department is looking for. Create a mapping of your accomplishments and skills to the prerequisites of the job. Make the language match. If the hiring company 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 showing why you are a great prospect for that position. You’ll use this in your resume and when you meet the team from the company at the job kiosk.
Fourth, modify your resume for each job type. 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 achievements and skills that most clearly match the job requirements. 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 fit 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 tagged folder. Keep them in a light briefcase or folio.
Finally, dress and prepare as if you’re doing on-site interviews. Dress well and be properly groomed. Avoid strong cologne or perfume…use any eau de cologne or fragrance meagerly, if at all.
Remember to smile, and good hunting!