Getting Real Interviews at Job Faires
Standing out at a Job Fair can make a difference in your job hunting. Job Faires are starting to pick up, and Dice is running some nice ones, called Targeted Job Fairs. At a Silicon Valley Career Fair in January, 10 companies as showing up, and a major job search company has 82 career faires scheduled for this year across the United States.
How do you get to the real interviews at a Job Faire? The contention can be noteworthy, but you can help yourself leap out from the crowd with early homework. At AA-Careers, we have a straight-forward 6-step process to get ready. Planning to go? Here’s how to prepare:
First, investigate the companies that are going and pick your objectives. Use the web to check out the companies that are there before you go. Go to their sites and see if they have their job openings listed. Pick a tenable number to target, and get ready to spend up to an hour researching each one. It’s hard to do more than 9 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’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 hiring department is looking for. Create a mapping of your accomplishments 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 company.
Third, create a ‘brief sales pitch’ for each likely company/job combination. Write down a 90 second ‘thumbnail’ that you can repeat verbally showing why you are a fantastic prospect 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 opportunity. The objective on your resume should exactly match the position 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 prerequisites. Especially at a Job Fair, 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, 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, rehearse your ‘mini-sales-pitch’. Collect your research and the resume for each position – bring a couple of copies for each – and put each in a clearly tagged folder. Keep them in a lightweight briefcase or folio.
Remember to smile, and good hunting!
