Standing out at a Job Fair can make a difference in your job hunt. Career Fairs 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 Job Faire in early 2010, 10 companies as showing up, and a major job search company has 82 job faires scheduled for 2010 across the US.
How do you stand out at a Job Faire? The contention can be substantial, but you can help yourself jump out from the bunch with early planning. At AA-Careers, we have a straight-forward step-by-step process to get ready. Planning to go? Here’s how to prepare:
First, investigate the companies that are going and pick your objectives. Use the World Wide Web to research the companies that are there before you even decide to go. Go to their web sites and see if they have their job openings 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 7 in a day, and 3-5 is a much more reasonable target. For each hiring organization, 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 organization 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 ‘brief sales pitch’ for each likely organization/position combination. Write down a 60 second ‘thumbnail’ that you can repeat out loud showing why you are a special candidate for that position. You’ll use this in your resume and when you meet the team from the company at the job booth.
Fourth, modify your resume for each position. The objective on your resume should exactly match the position you’re aiming for. 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 requirements. 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 simple to see that you’re a fit based on your resume.
Fifth, dress and prepare as if you’re doing on-site interviews. Dress nicely and be well groomed. Don’t overdress (this isn’t a date!) and don’t underdress (no jeans or t-shirts, no matter how much you paid for them). Avoid strong cologne or perfume.
Finally, rehearse your ‘mini-sales-pitch’. Collect your research and the resume for each position - bring a couple of copies for each – and put each in a clearly tagged folder. Keep them in a lightweight briefcase or folio.
Remember to smile, and good hunting!
