Bloperty

Standing out at a Job Faire can make a difference in your career search. Job Faires are starting to pick up, and a major job search company is running some nice ones, called Targeted Job Fairs. At a SF Bay Area Career Fair in early 2010, 10 companies as showing up, and a major job search company has 82 job faires scheduled for 2010 across the States.

How do you rise above the crowd at a Career Fair? The rivalry can be considerable, but you can help yourself stick out from the herd with advance preparation. At AA-Careers, we have a straight-forward 6-step process to get ready. Plan to go? Here’s how to prepare:

First, research the companies that are going and pick your objectives. Use the internet to check out the organizations that are there beforehand. Go to their web sites and see if they have their openings listed. Pick a sound number to target, and get ready to spend an hour or more researching each one. It’s hard to do more than 10 in a day, and three or four is a much more reasonable target. For each 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 openings on the web, read them to see what the organization is looking for. Create a mapping of your achievements and skills to the demands of the job. Make the terminology 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/position combination. Write down a ninety second ‘thumbnail’ that you can repeat verbally depicting why you are a special candidate for that job. You’ll use this in your resume and when you meet the company at the job stall.

Fourth, modify your resume for each position. The objective on your resume should exactly match the job 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 prerequisites. Especially at a Career 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, rehearse your ‘mini-sales-pitch’. Collect your research and the resume for each spot – bring a couple of copies for each – and put each in a understandably marked 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 properly groomed. Avoid strong cologne or perfume…use any eau de cologne or scent meagerly, if at all.

Remember to smile, and good hunting!