Amateur Love Music

Standing out at Career Fairs

January 29, 2010 on 8:37 pm | In Uncategorized | Comments Off

Standing out at a Job Faire can make a difference in your job search. Job Faires are starting to pick up, and Dice is running some nice ones, called Targeted Job Fairs. At a SF Bay Area Job Fair in January, 10 companies as showing up, and Dice has 82 job fairs scheduled for 2010 across the States.

How do you rise above the crowd at a Job Faire? The contention can be noteworthy, but you can help yourself stick out from the crowd with early preparation. At AA-Careers, we have a simple 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 before you go. Go to their websites and see if they have their job openings listed. Pick a small number to go after, and get ready to spend an hour researching each one. It’s hard to do more than ten in a day, and three to five is a much more reasonable target. For each hiring organization, you want to know: key product lines, recent news, and executive 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 postings on the web, read them to see what the hiring manager is looking for. Create a mapping of your achievements and skills to the demands of the job. Make the language match. If the hiring organization 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 ‘brief sales pitch’ for each potential organization/position combination. Write down a ninety second ‘thumbnail’ that you can repeat out loud describing why you are a fantastic prospect for that job. 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 position you’re going after. 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 description. 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 simple to see that you’re a match based on your resume.

Fifth, 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 lightweight briefcase or folio.

Finally, dress and prepare as if you’re doing on-site interviews. Dress nicely and be well groomed. Avoid strong cologne or perfume…use any cologne or scent sparingly, if at all.

Remember to smile, and good hunting!