Career Fair Success Guide
Regardless of your major, year in college, or future goals, there are benefits to
attending a career fair:
- Increase your chances of receiving an interview with an employer.
- Expand your network of contacts.
- Investigate positions, occupations, and/or career fields.
- Learn more about employers and their available positions.
- Receive sound job search advice from seasoned company recruiters.
- You must be prepared, professionally dressed, have an adequate resume, and ask thoughtful
questions. Plan your strategy for which employers or graduate schools you wish to
approach. Take the time to research these organizations. Be prepared to market yourself
within 60 seconds-Introduce yourself, tell the employer why you are there, summarize
your education and experience, and reiterate your interest. Make a good first impression!
- Survey the room and determine where employers are located. Consider in what order
you want to visit them. If there is a long line with one representative, keep moving
and return later. When it’s your turn to meet the employer’s representative, smile,
shake hands firmly and begin your sixty second commercial. Plan to ask one or two
well thought out, meaningful questions.
- At the end of your conversation, be sure to thank the representative for his or her
time. Leave a copy of an approved resume. Ask for a business card and will be great
if you have one of your own.
- After the career fair, write down a few notes about your conversation. You can include
the conversation on the thank you card that you will send later.
Adapted from Atlanta University Center Career Day Guide
What Employers Expect at Career Fairs
- According to Job Web, more than one-third of surveyed employers expect students who
attend Career Fairs to be familiar with their organizations. Students should check
with Career Services for an updated list of companies who will be attending a specific
fair. Then research the companies you are interested in. Employers are mindful of
student dress at Fairs in that 32% of companies surveyed expect that students wear
business suits; 56% indicated that casual business attire is acceptable. In terms
of what to bring, the majority of employers are looking for hard copies of student
resumes. Cover letters also ranked high among what students should bring to a Fair.
The survey results indicate that student follow-up is important. It is noted that
many employers do not extend an interview invitation unless the student sends a thank-you-letter
or makes a phone call to them after the Fair.
Resource – The Career Voice Quarterly Publication
How to Sell Yourself at the Career Fair
A Career fair is a great place to gather information about potential employers and
make contacts that can lead to your first job, internships or summer positions.
What to Take to the Career Fair
- Make sure to take copies of your resume. Maybe 25 to 30 copies of your resume depending
on the size of the event. Be sure it represents your knowledge, skills, and abilities
effectively. It needs to look professional, be easy to read, placed on resume paper
and be free of typos. If you are looking at several career options, you may want
to have two or more targeted resumes with different career objectives.
- You should always be professionally dressed, have a smile, a strong handshake, and
a positive attitude. First impressions are important. When approaching an employer,
smile, and shake the employers hand when you introduce yourself.
- A 30-second “sales pitch.” Hand the recruiter a copy of your resume and be prepared
to expand on it quickly! Share basic information about yourself and your career interests
like this: “Hello, my name is _________ I am a ________here at Grambling
- State University major in _________. I am very interested in a ________career. As
you can see on my resume, I just completed an internship in the __________division
of the ________corporation in Texas. I have also taken some courses in ________ and
I am very interested in talking with you about any opportunities with your organization.”
- Gather information about the organizations which will be attending, especially those
you are interested in. Gather information as you would for a job interview. To maximize
the brief time you have with each employer, you need to know how your skills and interests
match their needs. Don’t just concentrate on the big names. There are often great
opportunities with companies with which you are not familiar.
Things Not to Do at the Career Fair
- Do not walk around the fair visiting both with a group of friends. Interact with
the recruiters on your own. Make your own positive impression!
- Carry your resume in a professional looking portfolio or small briefcase. It will
keep your resume neat and handy, and gives you a place to file business cards of recruiters
that you meet.
- A career fair is a professional activity and often your first contact with a future
employer. So you need to be dressed in a professional manner.
- Do your homework! Research the companies just as you would for an interview. You’ll
be able to focus on why you want to work for the organization and what you can do
for them.
- Don’t come during the last half hour of the event. Many employers come a long distance
to attend the fair and may need to leave early. If you come late, you may miss the
organizations you wanted to contact.
Five Things to Take Home From the Career Fair
- Make sure you get business cards from the recruiters you have met. Use the cards
to write follow-up notes to those organizations in which you are most interested.
- You should have a wealth of notes about contacts you made. Take paper and pen with
you to write down important details about particular organizations, including names
of people who may not have had business cards. Take a few minutes after you leave
each table to jot down these notes.
- This is an opportunity to gather information about organizations you have contacted.
Most recruiters will have information for you to pick up, including company brochures,
computer diskettes or cd’s, position descriptions, and other data. You won’t have
time to deal with these at the fair!
- Attending such an event will leave you with a better sense of your career options.
If you have used the event correctly, you will have made contact with several organizations
that hire people with your skills and interests. In thinking about their needs and
your background, evaluate whether each company might be a match for you.
- Have self-confidence when interacting with employer representatives. A career fair
gives you the opportunity to practice your interview skills in a less formidable environment
than a formal interview. Use this experience to practice talking about what you have
done, what you know, and what your interests are.
Adapted from Job Web – Career Development and job-search advice for new college graduates
by Sally Kearsley
MOTTO:
YOU NEVER GET A SECOND CHANCE TO MAKE A FIRST IMPRESSION!!
