Career Fairs are like the fairs that you used to go to when you were a kid with a few notable exceptions. First, there are no bearded ladies and Siamese twins. They don’t serve refreshments, don’t have long waits to the bathrooms, and don’t have roller coasters. However, like many fairs, there are booths where they give away crappy prizes. Only differences are that these prizes usually have the logo of the company and are free. For many undergraduates, the career fair is also known as back-to-school shopping as you can usually pick up a semester’s worth of post-it notes, mousepads, comfort-grip pens, T-shirts, notebooks, and binders. Occasionally, you may also bring home some toys and plush animals. And for the few who go in the hopes of getting a job, career fairs can help you meet with prospective employers and get to learn more about various different companies who have either come to your school or region to hire people.
While most career fairs have a specific theme such as an IT Tech fair or Science fair, anyone can go to all of these events because most companies are always looking for great people. And while you may think that you are there just to pick up free stationery and hit on some good-looking people who are career-oriented, you should really be prepared. While the odds of you getting a job at one of these events are rare, these fairs present the first opportunity for you to meet with your prospective employers. So dress well. The occasion may or may not require a suit but you should dress to impress. Imagine that you are going to meet the parents of your bf or gf for the first time. Dress like that.
Most companies at the career fair are looking to hire. Some companies have immediate hiring needs and some can wait until you graduate or have ongoing job opportunities. Most of the time, these fairs are attended by some person from human resources whose primary job is to collect resumes so that he/she can back to the firm to show how many resumes were collected. (The employer would think…gee, I now have 100 resumes that I don’t need) And then there may be a couple of entry-level and mid-level individuals who actually have a job there. When you go to the booth, be sure to talk with someone who is not in HR. Okay, you want to be nice to the HR people. As you are talking with the individual, be sure to ask questions that you wouldn’t get from the company brochure. As you get into the dialogue, you may like the person’s job. At some point, you may want to say, “Wow, you have such a fascinating job. After this conversation with you, I feel more comfortable exploring this career option. What would be the best way for me to enter this field?” At this point, the person will certainly say, “Do you have a resume? I will make sure that someone will get in touch with you.” Now, this person has his/her own pile. After the career fair, he/she will go to the boss and say, “I met with 10 people who I think would be great for this firm. I got resumes of five of them (five of you didn’t bring one—suckers!).” If you were the employer, which pile are you going to look at?
Even if you aren’t looking for a job, I would suggest going to a few of these events to understand how they operate. Career fairs are the best ways to introduce you to people who hire and, who knows, they might hire you.
· Bring plenty of resumes
· Dress to impress
· Be sure to talk with people who can make hiring decisions (usually not HR)
· Do not talk with someone for more than 5 to 10 minutes. They have a job to do. If you take up more than that, you are preventing them. Also, you want them to want to get to know you better and *sniff* *sniff* miss you. But how can they miss you if you won’t go away?
· As you leave, be sure to collect their business cards. Briefly jot down what you talked about on the back of the card. Believe me, you won’t remember later.
· Go home and write a thank you note with another copy of the resume.
If you follow this route with about a dozen or so companies, your phones will be ringing from these people days later. And unlike the other suckers who will have to submit resumes and do screening interviews, you will likely have to do only one interview.
