Standing out at a Career Faire 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 Silicon Valley Job Faire in January, 10 companies as showing up, and Dice has 82 career faires scheduled for 2010 across the States.
How do you compete at a Job Fair? The competition can be noteworthy, but you can help yourself jump out from the bunch with advance homework. At AA-Careers, we have a simple step-by-step process to prepare. Planning to go? Here’s how to prepare:
First, investigate the companies that are going and pick your targets. Use the web to check out the organizations that are there beforehand. Go to their internet sites and see if they have their job openings listed. Pick a sensible number to go after, and get ready to spend about an hour researching each one. It’s hard to do more than 9 in a day, and three or four is a much more reasonable target. For each hiring 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 achievements 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 achievements should be written in the style of the hiring company.
Third, create a ‘mini sales pitch’ for each likely company/position combination. Write down a 60 second ‘thumbnail’ that you can repeat out loud showing why you are a special candidate for that job. You’ll use this in your resume and when you meet the company at the job kiosk.
Fourth, modify your resume for each opportunity. The objective on your resume should exactly match the job 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 prerequisites. 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, practice 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 understandably marked folder. Keep them in a lightweight briefcase or folio.
Finally, dress and prepare as if you’re doing on-site interviews. Dress well and be fittingly groomed. Avoid strong cologne or perfume…use any eau de cologne or perfume meagerly, if at all.
Remember to smile, and good hunting!