Thu 28 Jan 2010
Standing out at a Career Faire can make a difference in your job hunt. Job Fairs are starting to pick up, and Dice is running some nice ones, called Targeted Job Fairs. At a Silicon Valley Career Fair in January, 10 companies as showing up, and Dice has 82 career faires scheduled for this year across the States.
How do you stand out at a Job Faire? The rivalry can be considerable, but you can help yourself leap out from the crowd with advance planning. At AA-Careers, we have a straight-forward six-step process to get ready. Planning to go? Here’s how to prepare:
First, investigate the organizations that are going and pick your objectives. Use the World Wide Web to research the organizations that are there before you even decide to go. Go to their websites and see if they have their openings listed. Pick a tenable number to target, and get ready to spend about an hour researching each one. It’s hard to do more than 8 in a day, and four to six 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 will end up with with a page or two of research for each company/job.
Second, if there are job postings 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 nomenclature match. If the hiring organization 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 ‘short sales pitch’ for each potential company/position combination. Write down a 90 second ‘thumbnail’ that you can repeat verbally depicting why you are a fantastic candidate for that job. You’ll use this in your resume and when you meet people at the job booth.
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 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 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 clearly marked folder. Keep them in a light 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 scent meagerly, if at all.
Remember to smile, and good hunting!
