Lessons from the Career Fair:
Confessions of a Former “Job
Fair Jockey”
Seven Lessons Learned
- Bring all your materials (resume, transcripts,
references, contact information), and organize your thoughts and questions.
- Visit recruiters at the start of the fair, when
they’re still fresh and lines are short. That gives you the chance to meet
with your top companies, with time to spare for your “B” companies. Did you
ever see candidates running from booth to booth, working up a good sweat? Do
you think people in this category get a follow-up interview?
- First impressions count more than ever. Act as if
the recruiter you are speaking with is the only recruiter in the room.
Practice your introduction, your handshake and your 15-second answer to “Why
you stopped at this company booth.” It will help grow your confidence.
- Remember the three R’s: research the company, relate
your qualifications to the company’s hiring needs and respect the
recruiter’s time.
- Don’t network as the fair is closing its doors.
- Follow up with a thank-you note to the recruiter and
call to make sure it was received. When you call, ask questions about the
company’s resume review process.
- Be assertive, but never aggressive.
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Before your next career fair or job interview, you’ll want to read what
recruiters may be thinking, courtesy of Troy Behrens, executive director of the
Hegi Family Career Development Center:
Do you ever wonder what happens on the employers’ side of
the proverbial job fair booth? Allow me to give you a rundown, in hopes that it
might help prepare students or alumni for our next fair in the fall –– or any
career fair they may attend.
I have dissected the fair into three categories –– pre-event,
the event itself and post-event –– and examined each category from the
perspective of a job fair recruiter (that’s where the “confessions” come in).
Here we go:
Pre-fair recruiter confessions
- Nine of every 10 career fairs I
attend require me to travel from out of state, which means long security
lines, lost baggage, cheap hotels, greasy food and getting lost. Since most
colleges lump their career fairs into the same four weeks, I relive this up
to three times a week.
- After not enough sleep, I lug my
bulky materials to campus and rush to set up my display. Looks like only
half of my company brochures made it, but at least the “goodies” are
accounted for –– after all, that’s the reason most students and alumni
stop by my booth. They love the fiber-optic yo-yo that plays the university
fight song!
During the fair
- I shake hands with hundreds, many of whom treat the introduction as if
it were a “speed dating” session. Others look at their shoes while speaking
or try to find the next booth to visit.
- During one fair, I calculated that students asked me the same question
141 times: “So what does your company do?” It is the worst question because
it shows a lack of research and focus. On the flip side, imagine how elated
I am when a student says: “I learned that your company has a widget
manufacturing operation in Canada. I am from Toronto; can you tell me how I
might use my degree in manufacturing operations in a program such as yours?”
- Students who are able to direct a
conversation get added to the “call-back” pile. That means they introduce
themselves, describe how their backgrounds fit with the company’s bottom
line and end with one good reason they match the criteria in the job
description that was posted for this fair. Now, that is how to stand out
from hundreds of candidates!
Post-fair confessions
- When the job fair starts winding
down, most recruiters want to pack up: There are flights to catch, traffic
jams to beat and food and water to consume. Don’t be the person hanging
around when I’m taking down my display, and don’t ever follow me to my car.
- Once recruiters return to the
office, it takes a few days to check notes and review resumes, which are
then either forwarded to a hiring manager or dumped into an online database.
Plan on days, even weeks, for a hiring manager to contact you.
- Recruiters appreciate thank-you’s
by e-mail or snail mail. Sometimes they respond when job candidates call and
request that their thank-you’s and resumes be forwarded to a hiring manager.
(Sometimes not; but you don’t know if you don’t ask.) If recruiters do offer
the hiring manager’s e-mail, send the manager a thank-you and offer
additional information, such as references and work samples.
- Never use a “back-door” method to
find the name of a hiring manager, and never contact a manager if his or her
name wasn’t advertised. One time a student from a job fair bypassed me,
called the hiring manager and attempted to negotiate a higher salary over
the phone. Imagine my surprise when the manager called me, thinking that I
provided his contact info. Imagine the manager’s surprise when he learned
that I didn’t and that the student was trying to “manipulate our hiring
system.” Imagine the student’s surprise when he was removed from
consideration.
There you have it! Confessions from the recruiter’s
perspective, which I hope, will help you prepare for your next job fair.
As is the case in any form of
business, trying to understand the viewpoint of your colleague or customer will
give you the tools you need to succeed. Why? Because you can analyze and remedy
“intangible” variables that most people don’t recognize.
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