If you responded to your upcoming career fair by amassing resumes into one heroic pile, teeth chattering for the moment you approach your intended future employer to break the ice—it’s likely you’ve encountered career fair paralysis.
Career fairs, while seeming quite nerve-racking to the average citizen, are easy to prepare for, attend, and follow up on when dissected in these three approachable phases of the process. Not to mention, a solid career fair performance can expose you to new opportunities.
WHY CAREER FAIRS SO IMPORTANT—CAN THEY SET YOUR CAREER IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION?
A problem with the traditional application process, through sites like Indeed or LinkedIn, is the virtual distance between you and the employer. In most cases, an applicant will never have the chance to speak with the person on the other end of the application—to discuss the nuances perhaps of why they’d be worthy of the job.
Career fairs take care of this problem handily. There is typically a high turnout of employers at these events, and you can get a rather nice conversion rate if approached correctly. Best of all, these first-hand contacts will benefit you in the long run, providing a face and voice to your resume. An employer might not remember your resume alone, but they’ll remember the conversation they had with you about that resume.
BEFORE YOUR CAREER FAIR
While your career fair timeline may start the morning of, you’re prepping should have kicked off long before then. These tips will give you a guideline of how to prepare weeks ahead of the event down to the final day.
TIP #1: LEARN WHO WILL BE THERE—OBTAIN A GUEST LIST
Whether it’s a run-of-the-mill college career fair, or one organized by the county or team of local businesses, chances are you can find a website with details on who’s attending. Something as scheduled as a career fair will often have this resource available weeks before the event, so if the right employer isn’t appearing at your nearest career fair, simply plan for the next one—or attend anyway, because inopportuneness should never keep a good entrepreneur down!
TIP #2: HAVE A POLISHED, PROOFED, AND PRINTED RESUME/CV
While there’s plenty that goes into crafting a professional resume, some main takeaways are a reverse-chronological structure, concise language, and experience that highlights your journey and transferable skills. Having a quality-looking resume is as much a reflection of your background as it is on who you are as a person—do you have a careless, ho-hum attitude about how people see you, or one that values thoughtfulness and attention to detail?
Lastly, regarding how many resumes to print, it’s safe to say you won’t need a stack bound by twine, but you will be passing them out like flyers. It may even help to tote them in a designated resume folder. All said, here’s quick cheat sheet to help decide:
- 10-20 copies for a smaller, niche career fair (or if you’re targeting only a few employers)
- 20-40 copies for larger, more conventional events; college career fairs
- 50-100 copies for job search conferences or expos
TIP #3: PREPARE TALKING POINTS (AND PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE)
You’ve heard of an elevator pitch. It’s a brief summary of a concept lasting about 30-60 seconds—or the average span of an elevator ride. It’s also the likely amount of time you’ll have an employer’s complete, undivided attention, making first impressions all the more important.
Knowing what you’re going to say means practicing strong impact talking: or, highlighting your attributes, skills, and experience while trimming any unnecessary flab from your points. Practicing will make you sound confident and authentic, but feel free to go off the cuff a bit if your speech sounds too rigid.
DURING YOUR CAREER FAIR
With the big event just hours away, nearing every second, deciding when you’ll arrive and how to conduct yourself will be next in the order of business.
TIP #4: ARRIVE EARLY
Your potential employer will have likely arrived at the career fair hours before you, but that doesn’t mean walk through the doors midway through the event, right into the hurly-burly of a packed crowd. By then, employers may have already spoken to dozens of applicants and formed a definite picture of who they want.
Arriving early will demonstrate you’re a true go-getter, and you can get to work on planting your specific brand of confidence with employers before anyone else does. Naturally, getting enough sleep will go a long way to making this portion of the process tolerable.
TIP #5: DRESS WELL
Part and parcel with arriving early is, of course, dressing well. A formal suit and tie or business-professional attire should do, but feel free to weigh the room for any dress trends you hadn’t prepared for—bringing one professional and one casual outfit as a spare.
TIP #6: HAVE A GOAL—LANDING YOUR RESUME IN THEIR HANDS
Attendees often find career fairs overwhelming at first as there seems to be so much to do in such little time. Planning a route that hits most of your target employers before the hustle and bustle sets in will guarantee your resumes land where needed. (Note: most career fair organizers have a map—in some cases, an app—of booth or tent locations.) Then, it’s time to spring out that well-rehearsed pitch.
FOLLOWING UP AFTER YOUR CAREER DAY
You’ve white-knuckled it through the event—or perhaps you greatly enjoyed it!—and the hard part is over. But there’s still the process of following up after a career fair; otherwise, everything you did could be for not.
TIP #7: IF GIVEN A CONTACT, REACH OUT AFTER A RESPECTABLE TIME
It’s impossible to know when (or if) an employer will touch base with an interview request. Yet, there are ways to stay relevant long after the event—and being present in their email inbox is one, especially in the following ways:
- Send a thank-you note within 24-48 hours of the event
- In said note, mention a point you two discussed
- If you don’t have the representative’s email, reach out to the company’s HR department or search their directory for the right name
TIP #8: PROPOSE A TRIAL PROJECT
Nothing says genuine interest like offering free work—though in a way that serves both parties. Explaining that this project is a one-time offer to demonstrate your abilities, you can then hash out the details regarding scope, timelines, and any resources you may need.
TIP #9: POLISH THAT LINKEDIN PROFILE!
Believed by some to be an accessible social platform or a tool only paid users can navigate, LinkedIn is still your best friend when it comes to promoting your personal brand. A strong profile shows your employment past, education, interesting background info, and recent samples of your work—the recency being important as it shows you’re still in strong work mode!
ONE FINAL TIP: SEIZE THE OPPORTUNITY
Nothing has ever been accomplished by passing up on opportunity—an old adage, but still very true. By attending every career fair in your area, even if you don’t intend to pass out resumes, you’ll be meeting new people who may someday become future contacts.