| |
|
|
|
|
|
Toronto Job & Career Fairs |
|
Career Fair Checklist
for
Career Fair Success
By:
Randall S. Hansen, Ph.D.
|
|
|
 |
|
Are you planning to attend a
career fair soon? Are you searching for pointers to help you succeed at the
career fair? Do you know the activities job-seekers should perform before,
during, and after the career fair?
Use our Career Fair
Checklist
1. Activities to
accomplish before the event
|
Take the time to
read one or more of the articles on working career fairs, which you
can find in
Career Fair Resources section of Quintessential Careers. |
|
|
Go to the career
fair Website. Whenever possible pre-register with the career fair
and obtain the list of organizations attending the event. |
|
|
Decide on the
organizations you are most interested in and conduct research on
each. Gather basic information about the company (size,
organization, locations, top management), their products, and
standing in their industry.
Learn how to research companies. |
|
|
Develop a plan of
attack for the career fair. Many experts suggest interviewing with
your top companies first, then with other recruiters, and toward the
end of the day returning to your top choices. |
|
|
Finish polishing
your resume. Review for keywords and accomplishments, check for
typos and other spelling errors, and customize for each targeted
organization (even if it is something as small as inserting the
organization's name into your job objective). Print out extra copies
of your standard resume to bring to the career fair -- just in case
you need them. Go to the
Resume Resources
section of Quintessential Careers if you need help with your resume.
|
|
|
Consider a mock
interview if it's been a while since you have been interviewing. If
nothing else, review common interview questions as well as prepare a
few questions to ask the recruiters -- ones that can't be easily
answered from available company information. Check out these
job interviewing
resources. |
|
|
Check your attire.
Whenever possible, you should wear a well-fitting suit to career
fairs. For men, it means conservative shirt and tie, polished shoes,
styled hair, and removal of jewellery from all visible piercings.
For women, it means a conservative suit (pants or skirt), shoes and
pantyhose, styled hair, and removal of jewellery from visible
piercings. Oh, and if you are prone to sweaty palms, be sure to pack
a handkerchief or something else (other than your suit) on which to
wipe your hand.
Read
more about dressing for success. |
|
|
Create or review
your elevator speech -- a 15- to 30-second commercial that
succinctly tells the person you are giving it to who you are, what
makes you unique, and the benefits you can provide.
Learn how to create your elevator speech. |
|
|
Other useful,
though not necessary items, for the career fair include a portfolio
of your accomplishments and samples of your work, as well as a stack
of personal business cards. Portfolios usually get more attention in
later interviews, but it doesn't hurt to bring one along if you get
a recruiter who is hot to hire you.
Read
more about career portfolios. Your personal business card, which
is not the business card of your current employer, could be a
networking card or a resume highlights card.
Read more about personal business cards. |
|
|
Get a good night's
sleep the night before. And, as my students like to add, don't get
drunk the night before either. Oh, and packing some breath mints for
the long day ahead might also be helpful. |
|
|
Remember to pack
pen and paper for jotting down notes, contact information, and other
vital details. |
2. Activities to accomplish during
the event
|
|
As soon as you
enter the hall, survey the layout and confirm that it matches up
with the plan you developed. Then execute your plan. |
|
|
Attempt to
establish rapport with each recruiter. Remember to smile, make eye
contact, and offer a firm (but not death-grip) handshake. Use your
elevator speech. |
|
|
Gather information
and materials from each organization's booth. And if they have some
goodies (pens, magnets, etc.), feel free to take one, but don't be
greedy. |
|
|
Answer questions,
showcase your knowledge of each company, but also remember to ask
questions so you'll have a better understanding of which
organizations are the best fit for you. |
|
|
Ask about the
organization's recruiting timetable. Solicit information about the
next step in the process. |
|
|
If you are
considering relocating to a different state, once you've established
rapport, ask the recruiter if you can obtain the name of the
recruiter for that area. Better, ask the recruiter to forward your
information to that other recruiter. |
|
|
Remember not to
overstay your welcome. If the recruiter starts looking over your
shoulder, it's time to move on. |
|
|
Don't forget to
collect business cards from each recruiter. And if you can't get a
business card, be sure to get all the contact information (including
the correct spelling of each person's name). |
|
|
Remember that
politeness counts. If the recruiter appears thirsty, offer to get a
beverage from the refreshment area for him/her. And don't forget to
thank each person you speak with for taking the time to meet you and
talk to you about opportunities with his/her organization. |
|
|
Network, network,
network. Make connections with people -- not just the recruiters but
with fellow job-seekers, career professionals, and the like -- the
more people in your network, the stronger it becomes. |
3. Activities to accomplish after
the event
|
|
Send thank-you
notes to each recruiter, thanking them for their time, interest, and
help in your job-search. It doesn't matter how you send the
thank-you just as long as you send one.
Read
more about thank-you letters, see samples. |
|
|
Reflect on your
system, your execution, and your results. What might you have done
more effectively? Make some initial plans for improvement before the
next career fair. |
|
|
Plan to follow up
with each recruiter about two weeks after the career fair. Contact
them and express your continued interest with the organization, your
assurance of your ability to contribute to the organization, and get
more information about next steps in the process. |
|
|
Consider developing
some sort of system for keeping track of all the recruiters and
potential job leads.
See an example of a job lead log. |
|
|
Remember to find
other sources of job leads. Career fairs are a good source, but
there are many other ways to generate job leads.
Read
more about ways of developing job leads. |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
Acknowledgements
Special thanks to my Marketing Career Development class for their efforts in
adding to this checklist during our Career Fair Preparation Workshop.
Questions about some
of the terminology used in this article? Get more information (definitions
and links) on key college, career, and job-search terms by going to our
Job-Seeker's
Glossary of Job-Hunting Terms.
Dr. Randall
Hansen is Founder of Quintessential Careers, as well as publisher of its
electronic newsletter,
QuintZine. He writes a biweekly career advice column under the name,
The Career Doctor. He is
also a tenured, professor of marketing in the School of Business
Administration at Stetson University in DeLand, Florida. He can be reached
at randall@quintcareers.com.
Read more about Dr.
Hansen. |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
