Ready…Set…Go! It’s Career Fair Time!

It’s that time of year again. As students anticipate graduation, many college and university career centers across the country are busily making preparations for their annual spring career fairs. For students, however, there are a few things that need special attention in preparation for these fairs.

Prepare a good resume – It should include an objective statement that is clear and concise. Often, students will be tempted to write long statements where the type of company culture wanted is described, what type of boss is desired, etc. Adequately researching a company in advance of sending a resume will take care of many of these concerns. Also, for the job duty statements, try to show results along with the job activity. For example, the statement “Prepared a database for XYZ department” would be much more effective if it read “Prepared a database for XYZ department which reduced manual record search time by two hours per day ”. This gives the employer an idea of what you contributed to the overall operation of the business. In this case, you saved the company both time and money. Next, never put the street address, zip code, phone number and supervisors name on the resume. These pieces of information are for the application form if asked to complete one. Finally, try to keep your resume to one page. Good formatting should help you achieve this. Ask a career center counselor to review your resume prior to the fair.

Prepare for the company booths that you want to visit – Get a list of the companies attending the fair in advance and research these companies. The internet, trade journals, annual reports, and networking are good sources of information. If you know someone, perhaps a recent graduate of your school, who works for one of the companies you are interested in, ask them. Find out what they think about the company as an employee. The purpose of research is to get information. Where is the company’s headquarters and branches, do they have the type of corporate culture in which you want to work, do they value diversity, or promote from within? Without proper research, you will be ill prepared to speak with the recruiters. You do not want to tell the company representative that you are interested in working in Chicago, if they only have locations in Baltimore, D.C., and New York.

Prepare your sales pitch – Be prepared with a 20 to 30 second personal sales pitch. Briefly describe yourself, what your major/minor is, outline your experiences and what it is you want to do. Keep it quick and interesting.

Prepare to come to the fair early – Catch the recruiters when they are fresh. After speaking to hundreds of students for three to four hours, some representatives may get tired or run out of materials. By coming at the beginning of the fair rather than at the end, you are more likely to be able to get more attention from the recruiter, get a business card before they run out and find out more information about the positions offered. Send a follow up email to the recruiters that you spoke with immediately after the fair.

Prepare your wardrobe – In other words, Dress for Success. Do not wake up the morning of the fair and attempt to get your wardrobe ready for the day. Something will go wrong. The white shirt you were planning to wear may have a stain on it, someone borrowed the tie you were going to wear, your may only be able to find one of the pair of your conservative shoes. To avoid this, decide what you are going to wear at least two weeks in advance. Your suit may need to be dry cleaned, your shirt laundered, or you may need to buy a new pair of shoes. Remember, men should wear a dark colored suit, conservative tie, and polished shoes. Women a dark colored business suit, conservative shoes with a sensible heel. And if wearing a skirt, it should be knee length. Remember, no flashy jewelry and loud cologne or perfume. If not sure, it is better to err on the side of conservatism.

The objective for many students is to get an interview as a result of making contact with an employer at the career fair. If this is the case, make sure you are prepared for the interview by attending mock interview sessions on campus. Also, get a list of frequently asked interview questions. In addition to your campus career center, the internet is a great source for this.

Many companies use a behavioral based interviewing technique. With these questions, you are asked to describe a time when you had to deal with a certain situation or perform a certain task.

Companies ask these types of questions because they are trying to get a sense of how you would most likely behave in similar situations in the future. To answer these questions, use the STAR technique. Describe the situation or task, what action you took, and what the result of that action was. Prepare eight to ten examples or stories in this format so you will be ready for these questions.

Most career centers offer pre-career fair workshops. So take advantage of these. If not, speak with your campus career professional. He or she will be able to advise you on what to do and what not to do at a career fair. Good luck!

Interested employers may send an email to careerservices@hssu.edu to receive registration materials. Harris-Stowe offers degree programs in Business Administration, Marketing, Management, Accounting, Information Sciences & Computer Technology, Health Care Management, Criminal Justice and Interdisciplinary Studies. Degrees are also offered in Early Childhood, Elementary, Middle School and Secondary Education.