The dreaded job fair. You wear your best suit to wait in long lines to give your pitch and hand over your resume. The whole game seems to be a lot of hurry up, wait and follow-up.
I am not sure anyone actually looks forward to these awkward hand shakes and business card passing, but looking for a job in a different region of the U.S. did not make me anymore excited to attend one last week. I did go, but not without a plan
The career fair was sponsored by Wisconsin Private Colleges, naturally it was geared to Wisconsin-based jobs and service opportunities. Not too many options for a D.C.-Raleigh-Colorado Springs seeking girl like myself. It took a little more work but here is how I worked the job fair.
1. Research: Any online article on job fairs tells you to research the companies that will be there. Well relocating makes the research that much more important. I picked up the packet of companies earlier in the week, flipped through and first picked out the companies or positions I was interested in. Then, I went online and looked further into the company, the position and also if they had an office in one of dream locations.
2. Whittle it down: After the research I narrowed my list from 15 to four. Many of the companies did not have an office outside of Wisconsin or the position did not exactly fit what I wanted. Sometimes you got to be picky when you can not devote hours to being at the fair.
3. Plan your route: I knew there were two tables that I was particularly interested in, so I planned to do those last. I used the first two as practice to shake off my jitters. Be flexible though, no sense in standing in line for 20 minutes if another one of your tables has no one in line.
4. Be up front about what you want: “Hi, my name is Paige and I am interested in your PR/communications/fundraising position in D.C./Raleigh/Colorado Springs I found on website/affiliate site/etc” repeat four times. I caught a few recruiters off guard with my frankness, mostly because they were not familiar with the position. Letting local recruiters know a job you are looking for nationally will get your name out there in the organization and may open leads that you did not know existed.
5. Follow up: Duh! Take those business cards and thank the recruiters for speaking with you. IMPORTANT reiterate what you are looking for again (see point 4). They talked to 100s of job seekers, make sure you are fresh on their minds.
I had some awkward conversations and hit a few dead ends. But I did have success. One of the organizations that was in my top two has a fundraising position in their D.C. office that I found on their national site, as opposed to their local website which was provided in the info packet. The recruiter had no clue about the position, but his boss recently moved to Milwaukee from the D.C. office. The recruiter passed along his boss’s card and I sent an introduction email. I will let you know how it works out!
Great post, Paige. And great tips. Sounds like it was a success for you. I especially like the idea of using some other less-important tables as practice before you go meet the people representing the jobs you’re most interested in. And I totally agree about whittling down the list before start looking. And I think something even harder – which most people don’t even think about – is figuring out the criteria you use to whittle down your list.
Although I haven’t attended any job fairs yet, I agree that the idea of them sounds pretty daunting and promises some awkward encounters. Your post included some great tips for any future job fairs I may attend. I’m glad to hear that you had an overall positive experience and may have a promising job opportunity!
Job fairs, ugh. I agree with what Katie said above, job fairs are so daunting and awkward. When I went to the private colleges one that you spoke about I had a hard time moving around with the hundreds of people in the AMU ballroom. People were talking loudly and it was hard to concentrate. You did hit on a lot of keys points about what to get out of a job fair. Thanks for the refreshers.