Standing out at a Job Faire can make a difference in your job hunting. Job Fairs are starting to pick up, and Dice is running some nice ones, called Targeted Job Fairs. At a Bay Area Job Faire in January, 10 companies as showing up, and a major job search company has 82 career fairs scheduled for 2010 across the States.
How do you stand out at a Career Faire? The competition can be noteworthy, but you can help yourself jump out from the crowd with early homework. 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 web to check out the organizations that are there ahead of time. Go to their internet sites and see if they have their openings posted. Pick a small number to target, and get ready to spend an hour researching each one. It’s hard to do more than nine in a day, and four to 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 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 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 company.
Third, create a ‘short sales pitch’ for each likely company/job combination. Write down a sixty second ‘thumbnail’ that you can repeat out loud showing why you are a key candidate for that position. You’ll use this in your resume and when you meet the company at the job booth.
Fourth, modify your resume for each job type. The objective on your resume should exactly match the job 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 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 match based on your resume.
Fifth, dress and prepare as if you’re doing on-site interviews. Dress nicely and be properly groomed. Don’t over do-it (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 opportunity - bring a couple of copies for each – and put each in a intelligibly marked folder. Keep them in a lightweight briefcase or folio.
Remember to smile, and good hunting!