Andrea B.
Career Coach helping midlife professionals figure out what they want to do when they grow up
What's your best tip for college students attending a career fair?
For an upcoming workshop with college students, I am looking for your best tip or suggestion on how to work a career fair. If you are a recruiter, HR professional, or employee who has attended a career fair, and you have a great suggestion for a college student, I'd love to share it with them.
Good Answers (9)
Rich G.
Thomas College Career Services, Student Affairs - career and internship coach, mentor, facilitator, advisor
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Andrea, at our college, we host an annual career fair, and I get feedback every year from employers about lack of professionalism. See the link below for a web page to help our students prepare for a career fair.
To answer your question about best tip for how to work a career fair:
Don't cruise the booths with a group of friends. Just as you wouldn't bring a group of friends to a job interview, you want to make sure to interact with recruiters on your own and strike a professional image.
Links:
Steve R.
Hardware, Operating Systems and Networking
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You will need to do some recon with these thoughts in mind:
1. What field are you going into?
2. Study the people who are well established in the field or discipline.
3. What are the benefits and challenges facing those who are established?
Go in armed with this information. Also, even more importantly, look and act like the people you will be meeting. You do not have to become someone or something you are not but you should be able to present yourself as “one of them.” In today’s career market the weeding-out process routinely eliminates perfectly qualified people simply because they do not “look the part.” One more very important item; have fun. This will boost your confidence which will in turn make you more attractive to a perspective employer.
Talk to everyone, even the booths that have nothing to do with your desired field. Show interest in each person your talking to by asking them questions about themselves, like what they do and how they got there. If someone likes you, they will do more to help you. Don't talk about yourself unless your asked, even then keep it short emphasizing your variety of skills rather than the details of your major. Leave a resume with everyone at the end of your conversation and ask the each person you talked to how you can follow up. Dressing business professional is a must! WEAR A SUIT, PRESS YOUR SHIRT, WEAR A TIE. If people enjoy talking to you, you dress the part, and you follow up you may get connected to your career unexpectedly. Now if we could get companies to send the right employees to represent their brand, career fairs would be much more effective.
As a former student, I'd definitely recommend that preparation is key!
Find out what companies will be at the fair before going there and make a list of the top 5 that really peak your interest. From there, make sure you have a list of good conversation starters and make the effort to speak with the rep at the booth. Building rapport is important but most important is getting their contact details and following up. Follow up is KEY!!!
They are bombarded with meeting several students at the show and to be honest, will most likely vaguely remember you. A student has to make the first move and follow via email, Linkedin, a phone call, etc. will help to set them apart from the majority of students who will wait and hope for a recruiter to reach out to them.
My advice to students: be pro-active and make the first move to show that you're interested and driven!
Naishadh G.
I help you stand-out, action smarter jobsearch & win interviews ✔ Resume & LinkedIn Writer ✔ Interview & Jobsearch Coach
Hi Andrea,
Few points:
1. Researching the organisations/recruiters attending the fair - this would help graduate (or any jobseeker) to learn about the product and service offerings, new projects, challenges and financial information.
2. Create a compelling and engaging elevator (introduction) pitch to interact - this will help them standout from other and leave a positive impression.
3. Get a professional business card that includes employment goal/target, strengths and contact details. I would also recommend printing QR code for technological positions.
4. Portfolio of the work samples, accomplishment stories, and certificates.
5. And the most important: positive attitude, energy and focus.
I actually wrote a small e-book on this subject; wouldn't mind sending it to you if you want to distribute.
Regards
Naishadh
Welling H.
International Relations Professor; NGO Board Member; Foreign Policy Advocacy
Bring short writing samples that are tailored to the specific job: a memo, a press release, talking points.
Research the companies involved to discern what their biggest challenges are right now.
Be prepared to ask pertinent, timely questions about the company/industry that demonstrate that you've done your homework about the positions being advertised.
Make sure to do your yoga or tai chi or morning run before you enter the fair :-)
Your students are lucky that you are looking out for them!
Dennis A.
Managing Director at The American Musical and Dramatic Academy
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Hi Andrea,
There are many tips for students attending a career fair, including dressing appropriately, honing an elevator speech, and more, but I feel the number one tip is researching the companies that will be attending.
If you send me your email address, I will forward an article I wrote for St. John's University titled, "Congratulations Graduate, Your Application Just Got Tossed in the Trash."
........Dennis
(dennis@kareerkit.com)
Patrick M.
Career Coach, Talent Management & Leadership Consultant, and Seminar Facilitator
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Well one thing that I would advise you to do is not to hold that diploma out in front of you as being your primary strength. Don’t staple your resume to your to forehead and say, “I have college degree you need to give me a job”. That just doesn’t tell potential employers what they want to know about you. You need to be ready to tell a company, What your strongest areas of competence are? Why people like having you on their team? and What you are going to help them accomplish? Those are the characteristics that get people jobs.
In today’s environment there are a lot of people getting great jobs who may not have a college degree. They may not have your credentials. Should that give you a little bit of an extra edge, yea it probably does. A degree shows self-discipline, and it tells a person that you have some sort of commitment, but in the last year more and more employers want to know:
• What kinds of results are you going to produce for us?
• What have you done in the last 6-months?
• Do you have notes of recommendation from 3 people
• A past project I can review.
• Clear understanding of our company and yourself
• A high EQ (Emotional Quotient) vs a high IQ
So be doing things that strengthen your presentation beyond just having a college degree. Now if you have to take a job that you really don’t like that’s ok. Do an excellence job there and do more than they except. That’s how people get recognized and move up in the game of life. Again you don’t just jump in making $150,000 because you have a degree. You may start out with a $30,000 job and if you do excellent work guess what you’re going to get more and more opportunities.
Links:
Laura J.
Keeping Businesses HR Compliant While Improving Employee Performance
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Know that the interview begins as soon as you walk into the the room!
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Patricia A. O.
at Consultant to Nonprofits, Freelance Writer, Civics and Government Instructor
Don't expect much, especially from the HR people attending.
They know nothing about the requirements of the jobs that they hire for.
And most of the companies there aren't hiring anyway.
Proper dressing and carry all documents related to your education and experience.
William T. C.
Facebook Marketing Expert with 1,100,000 Fans
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Dress up, bring a resume and be prepared to interview on the spot.
Brittany B.
Paraplanner & Registered Office Assistant (ROA) at Independent Financial Services Firm
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Dress & behave as if you're going to an interview. It's their first impression of you and you don't want to lose an opportunity because you forgot to shave or slept in those clothes the night before.
Yes attend as a job interview.
John B.
Sales Recruitment | Non Profit Recruiter | Recruitment Coach | Executive Search | Sales Executive Recruitment | Speaker
As a recruiter, I would say being clear and concise with the opportunity you are seeking would be the number 1 tip from my end. This includes salary expectations.
