Folksonomics

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

How do you compete at a Career Faire? The rivalry can be substantial, but you can help yourself stick out from the herd with early preparation. At AA-Careers, we have a simplified 6-step process to prepare. Plan to go? Here’s how to prepare:

First, research the organizations that are going and pick your objectives. Use the internet to research the companies that are there before you even decide to go. Go to their websites and see if they have their openings posted. Pick a small number to target, and get ready to spend about an hour researching each one. It’s hard to do more than 7 in a day, and three or four is a much more reasonable target. For each hiring organization, you want to know: recent news, key product lines, and exectuve names. Try to see if you know anyone at the target companies. You should end up 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 hiring manager is looking for. Create a mapping of your achievements and skills to the requirements of the job. Make the terminology match. If the hiring company calls customers "clients", your resume should do the same thing. The accomplishments should be written in the style of the hiring company.

Third, create a ‘brief sales pitch’ for each potential organization/job combination. Write down a sixty second ‘thumbnail’ that you can repeat verbally describing why you are a fantastic prospect for that job. You’ll use this in your resume and when you meet people at the job stall.

Fourth, modify your resume for each position. The objective on your resume should exactly match the position you’re aiming for. The executive summary should be a written form of your “mini sales pitch” for the job. Then choose the achievements 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 a no-brainer 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 position – bring a couple of copies for each – and put each in a distinctly tagged folder. Keep them in a lightweight briefcase or folio.

Finally, dress and prepare as if you’re doing on-site interviews. Dress nicely and be properly groomed. Avoid strong cologne or perfume…use any eau de cologne or perfume sparingly, if at all.

Remember to smile, and good hunting!