How to Stand out at Job Fairs
Standing out at a Job Faire can make a difference in your job search. Job Faires 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 January, 10 companies as showing up, and Dice has 82 job faires scheduled for this year across the States.
How do you get to the real interviews at a Job Faire? The competition can be noteworthy, but you can help yourself jump out from the herd with early preparation. At AA-Careers, we have a simplified 6-step process to prepare. Planning to go? Here’s how to prepare:
First, investigate the organizations that are going and pick your targets. Use the internet to check out the organizations that are there before you go. Go to their internet sites and see if they have their jobs listed. Pick a sound number to target, and get ready to spend up to an hour researching each one. It’s hard to do more than ten in a day, and four or five is a much more reasonable target. For each 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’ll 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 accomplishments and skills to the prerequisites of the job. Make the terminology match. If the hiring company 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 ‘brief sales pitch’ for each potential company/job combination. Write down a ninety second ‘thumbnail’ that you can repeat verbally showing why you are a key prospect for that job. You’ll use this in your resume and when you meet the team from the company at the job stall.
Fourth, modify your resume for each position. 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 achievements and skills that most clearly match the job requirements. Especially at a Career Faire, 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, rehearse 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 tagged folder. Keep them in a lightweight briefcase or folio.
Finally, dress and prepare as if you’re doing on-site interviews. Dress well and be properly groomed. Avoid strong cologne or perfume…use any cologne or perfume meagerly, if at all.
Remember to smile, and good hunting!
Written on February 7th, 2010 with
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