SEC 2 - Benefits Of Attending A Job Fair

The following is the transcription of The Successful Encore Podcast, SEC 2 - Benefits Of Attending A Job Fair. 

[00:00:00] So what are the benefits of attending a job fair?

[00:00:03] Individuals think it's a waste of their time but then they also complain that when they're doing applications those online applications go into cyberspace and they don't get an opportunity to talk to somebody. Well guess what? At a job fair you are doing face to face meetings with employers. Think of job fairs as a series of mini interviews. So the benefits are you're actually meeting these folks face to face you can make a wonderful first time good impression with a recruiter. So then you're also expanding your network. You are meeting all of these people that you would never have an opportunity to talk with. You're also learning about companies that you may never have heard of before. We none of us know all of the companies that are in central Ohio. This is a great way to find out who's out there and what's new going on. But also you're learning about companies that you may have thought you knew who they are and what they do. But in actuality their companies move they change they grow.You want to know if there is an opportunity for you in the company.

[00:01:16] For the most part from what I've seen most job fairs are advertised and you pretty much know who's going to be at the job fair so you can do a lot of work up front.

[00:01:26] Absolutely. The most important thing you really want to know is what are my goals. What am I looking for. What type of job am I looking for. You really want to be focused. The absolute worst thing you can do is when an employer says "What do you want to do?" Your answer to them is "I'll do anything." That's not what they want to hear. They want to know who you are, what you've done in the past. So you want to make sure that you have clarified the goals for yourself and you know do you want part time, do you want full time. Are you looking for anything in particular. You want to have your 60 second commercial about yourself so that you can easily talk to all of these strangers. You have to have a resume that is perfect and powerful. You want to make sure that you are giving them, the employers, the best look at what you have done. And you can do all of this research about the employers themselves ahead of time, also. As you mentioned there's always information out there a list of employers are almost always posted go into their web sites see who they are what they do what jobs have have they do they have posted. One of the biggest mistakes that someone will make is to think that the recruiter is going to be there for every possible job open when in actuality that recruiter may be only looking for one or two positions and that company could have 10 12 maybe 20 positions open. So you want to do all of the research on each of the companies that you're interested in.

[00:03:04] Day's come. Tips for the day.

[00:03:07] Dress appropriately you have to dress for success. Arrive early. Don't come at the last minute. The employers are tired and chances are pretty good you're going to miss some folks. As I mentioned you have to have your resume perfect but also bring multiple copies. Often times someone will come to a job fair and have only one copy of their resume. You want to leave your copies of your resumes with each of the employers. If you have other bits and pieces of information such as credentials or reference list of references or maybe a portfolio. You are not going to necessarily give all that information over to the employers in a job fair but you want to make sure that you have all those materials put together. Bring a notebook so that you can write notes bring a pen or pencil. And you also if you have your own little business card, bring your business cards with you. Most importantly you want to be enthusiastic. You want to let the employer know you're truly interested in working for them. So regardless of how they are acting you want to be the positive force. You want to make sure that you are also collecting information from them as well as giving them information so get their business card. Make sure that you can contact them again to do follow up. Get information about the position descriptions if they have those those ready or find out where that position description information is available. And also don't overstay your visit with the employer. If there's a long line of people behind you. Be very succinct. Get in there do your second 60 second interview and then keep moving on.

[00:04:59] As you mentioned in the work to do beforehand now's the time to probably ask about those other jobs that they may not have talked about that you are interested in as well.

[00:05:08] Exactly because those position descriptions may not be what you're interested in but talk to the recruiter and get a good feel for what is going on at their company. But if you go if you've done your research and you start talking to them and they can tell you've done your research they will know you truly are interested in them. So it's not a one one way deal it's a two way conversation. And again it's a little mini interview. You're practicing your interviewing skills you're gathering information and you're putting out there a positive attitude. You can only make a good first impression one time. So that's your job that day.

[00:05:51] OK so the end of the day you've collected all those business cards. You're going out have a cup of coffee rejoicing saying that's a great great career fair I went to. What's the next step what do you do afterwards?

[00:06:03] And that's so important too. You can't just go and then stop. You can't go to a job fair and expect everybody is going to be on your doorstep calling you. That's not going to happen. You need to do your follow up again. Always think in terms of what is the expectation of that recruiter. They want to know you're truly interested and one way to do that is to do a follow up Thank You. I usually tell folks that are at job fairs with me, I want to see those follow up notes in the mail that day. It can be an email. It can be a handwritten note. It can be a typed formal letter within 24 hours. You can then wait several days and do another follow up. So say your first follow up is an e-mail your second follow up is another cover letter with another copy of your resume. The trick is to try to keep your name and your resume on the top of their pile. Send it to them again. You want to be specific short and directed in your conversation and your follow up conversations with them. Remind them where you met what job fair was and what you're interested in doing. You can then do one a third follow up probably eight to 10 business days from when you were at the job fair. After that then it's probably too much. So two to three follow up times it works. If the employer told you to do an online application make sure you did that. If they told you to take an assess but make sure you've done that follow and follow up and let them let them know in the follow up that you have have completed those steps. You really want to make sure that you are contacting all the employers you talk to but particularly the employers that you're really targeting that you would like to work for.

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