Standing out at a Job Fair can make a difference in your job 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 SF Bay Area Job Fair in early 2010, 10 companies as showing up, and a major job search company has 82 job fairs scheduled for this year across the US.
How do you get to the real interviews at a Career Faire? The rivalry can be considerable, but you can help yourself jump out from the crowd with early preparation. At AA-Careers, we have a simplified step-by-step process to get ready. Plan to go? Here’s how to prepare:
First, research the organizations 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 websites and see if they have their jobs listed. Pick a sane number to target, and get ready to spend up to an hour researching each one. It’s hard to do more than eight in a day, and five or six is a much more reasonable target. For each hiring company, you want to know: recent news, key product lines, and exectuve names. Try to see if you know anyone at the target companies. You’ll 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 demands of the job. Make the language match. If the hiring company 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 organization/job combination. Write down a sixty second ‘thumbnail’ that you can repeat verbally depicting why you are a key candidate for that position. 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 targeting. 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 description. 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 quick 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 clearly labeled 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 fragrance meagerly, if at all.
Remember to smile, and good hunting!
