The Tax Cheapo

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

How do you stand out at a Job Faire? The contention can be significant, but you can help yourself jump out from the crowd with advance preparation. At AA-Careers, we have a simplified step-by-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 web to check out the companies that are there ahead of time. Go to their sites and see if they have their job openings posted. Pick a moderate number to target, and get ready to spend an hour or more researching each one. It’s hard to do more than 9 in a day, and four or five is a much more reasonable target. For each hiring organization, you want to know: recent news, key product lines, and contacts you know. Try to see if you know anyone at the target companies. You’ll end up with a page or two of research for each company/job.

Second, if there are job postings on the web, read them to see what the organization is looking for. Create a mapping of your achievements and skills to the prerequisites 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 organization.

Third, create a ‘mini sales pitch’ for each potential company/position combination. Write down a ninety second ‘thumbnail’ that you can repeat out loud showing why you are a fantastic prospect for that job. You’ll use this in your resume and when you meet people at the job booth.

Fourth, modify your resume for each position. The objective on your resume should exactly match the position 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 description. Especially at a Career Faire, the purpose of your resume is a sales tool for you – to get you on-site job interviews. It should be quick to see that you’re a fit based on your resume.

Fifth, dress and prepare as if you’re doing on-site interviews. Dress well and be well groomed. Don’t overdress (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, practice 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 intelligibly tagged folder. Keep them in a light briefcase or folio.

Remember to smile, and good hunting!