The Lava Bot

Standing out at a Job Faire can make a difference in your search. Career Fairs are starting to pick up, and a major job search company is running some nice ones, called Targeted Job Fairs. At a Bay Area Career Faire in early 2010, 10 companies as showing up, and a major job search company has 82 career fairs scheduled for 2010 across the US.

How do you rise above the crowd at a Career Fair? The contention can be considerable, but you can help yourself leap out from the crowd with advance preparation. At AA-Careers, we have a straight-forward step-by-step process to prepare. Plan to go? Here’s how to prepare:

First, investigate the companies that are going and pick your targets. Use the web to research the organizations that are there before you go. Go to their sites and see if they have their openings listed. Pick a moderate number to target, and get ready to spend up to an hour researching each one. It’s hard to do more than 7 in a day, and 3-5 is a much more reasonable target. For each company, you want to know: recent news, key product lines, and exectuve names. Try to see if you know anyone at the target companies. You should 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 hiring department is looking for. Create a mapping of your accomplishments and skills to the requirements 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 ‘brief sales pitch’ for each likely organization/job combination. Write down a ninety second ‘thumbnail’ that you can repeat verbally describing why you are a key 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 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 Career 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 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 opportunity - bring a couple of copies for each – and put each in a distinctly tagged folder. Keep them in a light briefcase or folio.

Remember to smile, and good hunting!