Taking Advantage of What Your College Has to Offer: Career Fairs

Right now you are college student working towards a future career; you’re getting the whole educational thing out of the way, but what happens after you’re done with that? It’s never too early (or too late for that matter) to start looking into potential job opportunities & networking with companies is a great place to start. Throughout every school year SIUC hosts a number of career fairs for its students giving you a chance to meet with companies and get that proverbial foot in the door.

This coming Wednesday (September 30^th) is the All-Majors Career Fair which will be in the Student Center Ballrooms. For an updated list of the companies which will be attending follow the link at: http://careerservices.siuc.edu/events/fairschedule_fall09.htm#top. So to help you prepare for the fair, we’ve put together a list of tips which will allow you to make the best impression during your time with each company:

Know what you want to get out of it.

Are you seeking employment? If so, do you want a full-time or part-time position, or perhaps are you more interested in acquiring an internship? Having an objective like this will allow you to go into the fair with a plan of action, it will help you to formulate questions to ask the employer, and you also won’t look clueless like Taylor Swift after Kanye interrupted her at the MTV music video awards (although Beyonce did have one of the greatest videos of all time). Write your objective(‘s) down because this should guide your entire career fair process, so reference it frequently.

Do your homework.

One of the worst things a student can do at a career fair is to ask a company, “So what do you guys do?” That is why it’s important to research the industry so you actually know what to talk about. Things to look for include entry-level opportunities, qualifications or required skill sets, required commitments (i.e. travel, relocation, and average work week), average benefits, or current demand. Make sure you write this information down so you can use it as a benchmark for evaluating prospective companies.

You should research the individual companies as well, looking for things such as their company vision, products and services, their corporate culture, or recent news about them. Again, write this down and remember what you find; this will help you to have better conversations during the career fair.

Don’t forget the résumé.

You want to have a résumé to give to each of the companies that you speak with & you want to makes sure that it’s up to date. One of the many services we offer at the business placement center is offering help with résumé writing or reviews; so don’t be shy.

Prepare your personal statement.

What can you offer their company that the 300 other people in the room cannot? You want to state your goals/ambitions/qualities in one sentence, allowing the recruiter to jot this down and easily recall it later. Try to avoid being generic by citing specific qualities or characteristics with a clear explanation to highlight your attributes.

When to arrive, what to bring, what to wear:

Arrive early; giving yourself enough time to get a feel for the layout of the room so you can establish a route around the room - you want to have a plan! If you are nervous when you arrive, consider hitting a couple of companies that you aren't as interested in to settle into a groove and calm yourself down. Bring at least 20 copies of your résumé (on résumé paper) & a professional portfolio (preferably dark leather) to showcase your work. You want to dress professionally! We think your camouflage shorts look great with those crocs too, but there is a time and a place. You want to go for a crisp, clean look; and try to lean towards a more conservative style.

Somebody’s watching me.

It is important to maintain professionalism at all times. Often the employers might be occupied with another student, so be patient. Do not cut others off in order to speak to someone; you might think you’re getting noticed but it actually comes off as rude. While you’re waiting to speak with a recruiter you can network with other students and get insight about the companies, this will keep you from looking like a lost puppy dog. Again you need to maintain professionalism, when recruiters aren’t meeting with students they usually are scanning the room and watching out for them; so that means you probably shouldn’t be sneaking bites of those left-over tater tots in your pocket that you had from lunch.

Let’s talk.

Like we said earlier, you should look forward to meeting with the recruiters; you are here to learn about them and they are here to learn about you. So be confident; make eye contact, smile, and give them a firm handshake. It will help if you practice your introduction the night before so you know exactly what you are going to say. You should also try your best to remember the recruiter’s name (try repeating it in your head five times); this shows them that you are involved with your meeting and interested in them.

During your conversation it will help if you have a set of questions prepared for you to ask them, especially ones in line with your objectives (i.e. “I was intrigued by the off-site teambuilding orientation that your company has for it's interns... I did have a question about…”). Unless the conversation is going extremely well, you want to be courteous of their time so try not to spend more than 10-15 minutes when speaking with the recruiter.

The Outro

Make sure to ask for a business card or the recruiters' contact information; state that you really enjoyed speaking with them and would like to know how to follow up with them in the future. Also, if there is another department you are interested in, find out who you can contact for more information. Make sure you thank them for their time to show your appreciation, give them another firm handshake and another big smile.

The Follow Up

Remember asking for a business card or contact information? Within 48 hours of the career fair you should send the recruiters you met an email or a hand-written thank-you card thanking them for their willingness to speak with you. Site one specific thing you took from the conversation and explain how it helped. Remember to keep in touch with the employers you are interested in every 5-6 weeks!

So now that you have all of the information necessary to shine at a career fair, don’t forget to use it! Career fairs should be an exciting event for you to look forward to, not stress over; networking with potential employers and learning about their companies is exciting so make sure to have fun with it, recruiters like to see students who are happy to be there. This is an opportunity for you to show off your best stuff, learn about what each company has to offer, & to make connections towards your future career.


Written by: Jon Robben, Business Placement Center