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Competing Successfully at a Job Fair
Standing out at a Job Faire can make a difference in your job hunt. Career Faires are starting to pick up, and Dice is running some nice ones, called Targeted Job Fairs. At a Silicon Valley Career Fair in early 2010, 10 companies as showing up, and a major job search company has 82 career faires scheduled for 2010 across the United States.
How do you rise above the crowd at a Career Fair? The rivalry can be considerable, but you can help yourself leap out from the crowd with advance planning. At AA-Careers, we have a simplified step-by-step process to prepare. Planning to go? Here’s how to prepare:
First, investigate the organizations that are going and pick your objectives. Use the web to check out the companies that are there before you even decide to go. Go to their internet sites and see if they have their job openings listed. Pick a sane number to go after, and get ready to spend up to an hour researching each one. It’s hard to do more than 8 in a day, and 3-5 is a much more reasonable target. For each hiring company, 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 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 organization.
Third, create a ‘thumbnail sales pitch’ for each likely company/job combination. Write down a 60 second ‘thumbnail’ that you can repeat out loud showing why you are a special candidate for that position. You’ll use this in your resume and when you meet people at the job stall.
Fourth, modify your resume for each job type. 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 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 a no-brainer to see that you’re a fit based on your resume.
Fifth, practice 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 understandably labeled folder. Keep them in a light briefcase or folio.
Finally, dress and prepare as if you’re doing on-site interviews. Dress well and be well groomed. Avoid strong cologne or perfume…use any cologne or perfume sparingly, if at all.
Remember to smile, and good hunting!