Astounding Language

Standing out at a Career Fair can make a difference in your search. Career 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 Faire in January, 10 companies as showing up, and Dice has 82 career faires scheduled for 2010 across the US.

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

First, investigate the organizations that are going and pick your objectives. Use the internet to check out the organizations that are there before you even decide to go. Go to their internet sites and see if they have their openings posted. Pick a sane number to target, and get ready to spend an hour researching each one. It’s hard to do more than 8 in a day, and five or six is a much more reasonable target. For each hiring organization, 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 hiring department is looking for. Create a mapping of your achievements and skills to the demands of the job. Make the language 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 likely company/job combination. Write down a sixty second ‘thumbnail’ that you can repeat verbally showing why you are a good prospect for that position. You’ll use this in your resume and when you meet the company at the job kiosk.

Fourth, modify your resume for each opportunity. The objective on your resume should exactly match the job you’re aiming for. 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 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 match based on your resume.

Fifth, dress and prepare as if you’re doing on-site interviews. Dress well and be properly groomed. Don’t over do-it (this isn’t a date!) and don’t underdress (no jeans or t-shirts, no matter how much you paid for them). Avoid strong cologne or perfume.

Finally, 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 marked folder. Keep them in a light briefcase or folio.

Remember to smile, and good hunting!