Standing out at a Career Faire can make a difference in your job hunting. Career Faires 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 Career Fair in early 2010, 10 companies as showing up, and Dice has 82 career faires scheduled for 2010 across the United States.
How do you rise above the crowd at a Career Faire? The rivalry can be considerable, but you can help yourself leap out from the gang with early homework. At AA-Careers, we have a simple step-by-step process to prepare. Planning to go? Here’s how to prepare:
First, research the companies that are going and pick your targets. Use the web to research the companies that are there beforehand. Go to their internet sites and see if they have their job openings posted. Pick a limited number to go after, and get ready to spend up to an hour researching each one. It’s hard to do more than nine in a day, and five or six is a much more reasonable target. For each company, you want to know: key product lines, recent news, and executive 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 postings on the web, read them to see what the organization is looking for. Create a mapping of your achievements and skills to the prerequisites of the job. Make the nomenclature match. If the hiring company calls customers "clients", your resume should do the same thing. The achievements should be written in the style of the hiring organization.
Third, create a ‘mini sales pitch’ for each likely company/position combination. Write down a 90 second ‘thumbnail’ that you can repeat out loud depicting why you are a good prospect 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 position. The objective on your resume should exactly match the job you’re want. 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 prerequisites. Especially at a Job Faire, 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, dress and prepare as if you’re doing on-site interviews. Dress well and be properly 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, 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 intelligibly tagged folder. Keep them in a light briefcase or folio.
Remember to smile, and good hunting!
