Standing out at a Career Faire can make a difference in your 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 San Jose Area Career Faire in early 2010, 10 companies as showing up, and a major job search company has 82 career faires scheduled for this year across the United States.
How do you rise above the crowd at a Career Faire? The competition can be considerable, but you can help yourself jump out from the crowd with early homework. At AA-Careers, we have a straight-forward six-step process to get ready. Planning to go? Here’s how to prepare:
First, research the companies that are going and pick your targets. Use the web 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 listed. Pick a small number to go after, and get ready to spend about an hour researching each one. It’s hard to do more than eight in a day, and three or four is a much more reasonable target. For each hiring organization, you want to know: executive names, recent news, and key product lines. Try to see if you know anyone at the target companies. You will end up with 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 company 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 accomplishments should be written in the style of the hiring organization.
Third, create a ‘brief sales pitch’ for each likely organization/position combination. Write down a ninety second ‘thumbnail’ that you can repeat verbally describing why you are a fantastic prospect for that position. You’ll use this in your resume and when you meet people at the job booth.
Fourth, modify your resume for each position. The objective on your resume should exactly match the position you’re going after. 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 obvious to see that you’re a match based on your resume.
Fifth, rehearse your ‘mini-sales-pitch’. Collect your research and the resume for each spot - bring a couple of copies for each – and put each in a clearly marked 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 fittingly groomed. Avoid strong cologne or perfume…use any cologne or perfume sparingly, if at all.
Remember to smile, and good hunting!