Job Fair Flair
by Janet Farley, Ed.M.

If there's a job fair penciled in on your calendar, then be ready to make the magic happen. A little pre-event planning, day of know how and after the fact follow up can make a huge difference in whether or not it was worth your time at all.

• Figure out the job fair logistics in advance. Do you know where the event will be held? Is parking available? Do you need to register for the event? Is it free or fee-based?
  
  
• Have your industry-specific resume printed out multiple times, ready to hand it out to all those employers you'll be chatting up at the job fair.
  
  
• Find out who is scheduled to be in attendance and what jobs they might be recruiting for. If you identify one that appeals to you, go ahead and create a targeted resume and apply for it in advance. Take a copy of that carefully crafted resume with you to the event and help employers connect the dots in person. 
  

• Dress to impress not distress. You're essentially speed-interviewing so look like someone employers would like to hire.
  
  
• Leave your significant other, best friend, parent or child at home. You're not a package deal in this instance. You can fill in your support system later.
  

• Arrive early to the event to avoid parking fiascos and long entrance lines. You'll also benefit by being among the first of many to speak with company representatives whose attentive commitment to the process, being human as they are, could potentially fade by day's end.
  

• When you first arrive on the scene, take a few minutes to review the seating chart and get a feel where your primary objectives are sitting.  Before you approach them directly, warm up your hire me chops by practicing your pitch with a couple not so targeted employers first.
  

• It's perfectly acceptable to help yourself to company freebies but avoid being “that jobseeker” whose swag bag is positively bulging with an excess stash of pencils, pens, stress balls, oversized  colorful paperclips, single serving packets of Starbucks coffee and company crested lanyards. Just don't.
  

• Instead, collect information and business cards. After having a meaningful, albeit brief convo with company recruiters, take the time to make a few notes on the back of their business card. This will help you remember whom you talked to you later when you meaningfully follow upon your job fair leads.
  

• While you're waiting for your private audience with the company rep, eavesdrop on the guy in front of you. You might be able to learn some basic details in advance (that you didn't already know from your pre-job fair research). That way, when it's your turn to chat, you can spend minimal time on those points and move on to more focused details instead.
  

• Remember that the job fair is a great opportunity to grow your network. It will only grow, however, if you nurture it and that means you need to follow up on your leads after the fact. You can follow up via email or telephone, referencing your meeting at the recent job fair.
  

• Finally, apply for those jobs you learned about from the job fair.

 

Happy job hunting!

 

Janet is the proud spouse of an Army veteran and a dedicated advocate for all those who have served in uniform and for those who have given their hearts to them. She offers service members, veterans and their families straightforward career management and job search advice based on more than twenty years of experience working in employment services within and outside the DoD. She is author of ten career/life advice guides, most recently Mission Transition: Managing Your Career and Your Retirement (Rowman & Littlefield, 2018) and Military Life 101: Basic Training for New Military Families (Rowman & Littlefield, 2016). She holds a Master's Degree in Human Services and Human Resource Education from Boston University and a Bachelor's Degree in Business from the University of Maryland. She currently works as a job coach and internship program facilitator at Mt. Carmel Veterans Service Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

 

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