Getting Real Interviews at Job Faires
February 6th, 2010
Standing out at a Job Fair can make a difference in your career search. Job 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 this year across the United States.
How do you compete at a Job Faire? The rivalry can be considerable, but you can help yourself surpass from the herd with advance planning. At AA-Careers, we have a straight-forward 6-step process to prepare. Plan to go? Here’s how to prepare:
First, research the companies that are going and pick your targets. Use the World Wide Web to research the companies that are there beforehand. Go to their sites and see if they have their jobs listed. Pick a tenable number to go after, and get ready to spend an hour or more researching each one. It’s hard to do more than 10 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 exectuve names. 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 openings on the web, read them to see what the organization is looking for. Create a mapping of your accomplishments and skills to the demands 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 company.
Third, create a ‘thumbnail sales pitch’ for each potential company/position combination. Write down a 60 second ‘thumbnail’ that you can repeat out loud depicting why you are a key candidate for that job. 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 opportunity. The objective on your resume should exactly match the position you’re want. 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 description. 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 obvious to see that you’re a match based on your resume.
Fifth, dress and prepare as if you’re doing on-site interviews. Dress well 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 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!
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