“A No-Nonsense Guide to Mastering the Job
Fair” By Allison Zures

I once had a friend tell me that she thought the term “job fair” was misleading.  The word “Fair” to her meant a fun and worthwhile event.  Whereas, every job fair she had been to seemed like a waste of time.  She said, “they should call them Job Unfairs”.  My friend is not alone in her sentiment.  For many people job fairs seem like daunting events that are right up there with speed dating and dentist visits on the scale of awkwardness.  Yet, job fairs are truly great opportunities for job seekers.  When preparation, planning and practice are taken care of, a job seeker can walk away from a job fair feeling confident, empowered and with viable job prospects in place.

One of the key elements of success at job fairs is preparation.  In fact, most of the work should happen before the job fair begins.  Here are four important points to remember when preparing for a job fair:

Research The Fair: There are many types of job fairs out there.  Some fairs are limited to specific industries where as others are open to the general public.  Often times universities, colleges, community organizations, or professional organizations will host fairs.  It is important that you learn as much about the fair you are going to attend as possible.  Check websites or call the host organization to find out what companies will be there.  Once you have a list of who will be hiring at the fair, narrow down which companies are interesting.  Also don’t forget the important logistical things such as the addresses, parking information, or entry fees. The more you know, the more likely you are to stay calm, cool, and collected on job fair day.

Practice Your Sound Bites: It is critically important that you are able to quickly and effectively speak about your professional strengths during a job fair.  Often times you have to do this while smiling, shaking hands, and handing a resume in a crowded room.  That is why practice is so important.  Whether you call it a “sound bite” or “elevator pitch,” a succinct and concise overview of your skills and traits will serve you well.  Practice with family or friends.  Google “elevator pitch” and watch videos on YouTube to gain inspiration.  Just make sure that before you step into a job fair you are ready to clearly communicate what you have to offer!  Remember, the goal of a job fair is to get an interview, not just submit a resume.  Be ready and friendly and you will be surprised how rewarding job fairs can be!

Look the Part: Dress for a job fair the same way you would for a job interview.  This is the first impression that you will be making so it is important it is a good one.  Professional dress usually consists of a dark suit and a blouse or collared shirt.  Make sure that your attire fits and allows you to stand and move around with ease.  Unlike a job interview where you usually sit, you will probably spend a job fair on your feet. There is nothing more frustrating then having uncomfortable shoes or jangly accessories distracting you while you are chatting with the company of your dreams.

Make that Resume Work: Just as you tailor your resume for a job search, you want to tailor your resume for a job fair.  Job fairs are one instance when an objective is important.  Use the objective to define what you are looking for.  If you are only looking for an internship or full-time work, put that in your objective.  If you are specifically interested in a company’s accounting department, put that in your objective.  Since employers will get many paper resumes in a job fair setting, let the objective help them decide where you will best fit in their operation.  Also, highlight transferable skills in a resume for a job fair.  See the Job Transitions, Inc. Guide or Ebook “How to Accomplish a Career Transition; A Guide to Changing Careers” for more details about highlighting transferable skills.  Remember, you want your resume to serve two purposes at a job fair.  The first is you want it to get an employer interested in you. The second is to make sure that your resume gets to the right department so you are not stuck interviewing for a job you would never consider accepting! If you prepare on the front end, then once the job fair arrives you will already be a head of the game.  Yet, you will need to stay focused and friendly throughout the fair.

Here are four things to consider while at the fair:

Strategize: Most fairs will have a map or some kind of guide with a list of companies.  Use that guide before you talk to any employer.  If no guide is given, then walk around and get a lay of the land. Think about who you are most interested in speaking to and what that company maybe seeking.  If there are three companies interested in a customer service representative and two companies looking for sales associates, group the like positions together so you are using the same “soundbites” to tailor similar jobs or companies.  Come up with a game plan in the restroom, hallway or somewhere so you know your plan of attack!

Prioritize & Be Polite: If you are someone who is very comfortable talking about your professional self, then go to your top choices first.  If you are a bit shy, consider warming up with company that may not be your first target.  Notice the lines and the time.  If it is around lunchtime and there is a long line at your dream company’s booth, maybe hold off for a while. Let the recruiter eat lunch or the line dies down a bit.  Yet, keep in mind that you cannot control everything.  Even if you have to wait in a long line, make sure that you engage the recruiter when you are speaking with them while still respecting their time.  Know that even if they want to hire you then and there they might not have time to answer every question.  Respect their time. If you have practiced your soundbites and your resume is on point, you should not need more than a few minutes to wow an employer.  Also, be considerate of other job seekers.  Being polite and to the point at a job fair can go a very long way.

Keep Notes: Keep track of business cards and names. This will serve you later in the interview stage.  It is also a good idea to take notes especially during interesting or informative conversations.  If a recruiter shares with you a date or details about a job, write them down or leave yourself a voicemail or text.  Whatever your system, keep notes throughout the fair for future reference.  By securing business cards, you will be able to follow up with a specific person after the Job Fair to reinforce your interest in the company and your most marketable skills. This “second bite” at the apple can show a company that you are really interested and gets your name in front of them again in a reasonable manner.

Be Bold & Stay Positive: Once it is time to start talking to employers, be bold. Take a deep breath and try.  It is not easy for most people but with practice it gets easier.  Remember, these recruiters are just people and are almost always friendly and easy to talk to. That is usually why they go the job in the first place!  Yet, let’s face it, not every interaction that you have a job fair will be pleasant.  Some recruiters go to two or three events a week and they may not be interested in your feelings.  Do not let one negative experience get you down.  Effective job seeking requires the development of a thick skin.  If something goes less than perfect, take a break, give yourself a pep talk and keep going.  Never let that one interaction infect the rest.  Your next conversation could be the one that helps you land your dream job.  Brush it off and keep smiling!

In closing, attending job fairs is not easy.  But, if you prepare and practice you just might find your next job at one.  I want to share my favorite quote that a former colleague of mine shared with me by Henry Hartman. The quote is “Success always comes when preparation meets opportunity.”  Job fairs are great opportunities. With preparation they can certainly help you achieve job hunting success.

Allison Zures

allisonzures@gmail.com

LinkedIn to Allison Zures

Search Firms and other placement agencies generally specialize in specific industries and charge a fee to their client companies. Common industries represented by search firms are accounting/finance, sales, engineering, health-care, information systems and clerical. Companies using search firms always pay the fee. The fees can range from 15% to 30% or more of the candidate’s starting salary. You should never use a so-called “search firm” that charges a fee to the candidate. It is critical to remember when using a search firm that even though  the  hiring company pays the search firm’s fee; the search firm does not actually work for that company. The search firm does not work for the candidate either. They work for themselves! They might utilize very high-powered sales techniques to help generate offers from the company and close the candidate on the job.

Candidates must evaluate the entire interview process and make their own decision on accepting or not to accept a job offer. Search firms may not be much help in trying to change functional positions or execute a career transition. The client company is going to pay a large fee to the search firm upon placement. What is the client company paying this large fee for? They are paying the large fee to the search firm to find them the “perfect candidate” for the position. The company may be willing to pay a large fee to the search firm for the “perfect candidate” because it is extremely difficult for them to recruit and hire this so-called “perfect candidate.” The company might not feel it is necessary to pay a large fee to a search firm in order to recruit a candidate trying to accomplish a career transition. They can usually recruit these candidates in other less expensive ways. Search firms will usually be of greater assistance to candidates conducting a more traditional job search (basically the same job, or the next level up, but in the same functional area.) You must be marketable to the search firm. Being marketable to the search firm really has little to do with your years of experience as long as it is in their area of specialization. Marketability to a search firm depends on two things:

1)  How “hot” you are on the market

2)  Your direction

Candidates are often disappointed because they never hear back from a search firm after they have contacted them. In these cases, one of two things probably happened:

1)  The search firm had the impression that the candidate was “testing the waters.”

2)   The search firm felt the candidate requested a “mission impossible.”

If you give the search firm the message that you are “testing the waters” of the job market, you will probably never hear back from them. They do not get paid for helping you get your feet wet! Now, put yourself in their position. You are working with ten candidates and five of them convinced you that they are “hot on the market.” The other five came across as if they just wanted to see what the market was like and are not that interested in changing jobs just yet. You are paid a commission upon placement. Who would you spend your time on?  Obviously the five who are seriously considering a change.

Some candidates will communicate to the search firm a list of ten or fifteen conditions that a company will need to offer them to consider a change. The search firm might consider this a “mission impossible.” It is too difficult and time consuming to identify a company that will give you all of this. Respond to a search firm with something like this:

“Obviously I am not going to accept any job offer, but if you show me an opportunity which gets me involved in (list three or four general items from your Dream Job List that you really are looking for) there is a good chance that I will accept that job.” Giving the search firm a statement like that shows them that you are ready to accept an appropriate job offer. In addition, it shows them that you are reasonable in what you expect them to show you with regard to career opportunities. Now, you are marketable to the search firm. Identify two or three search firms that specialize in your area of interest. We do not recommend working with multiple search firms at any one time. This is true especially if your search is specific to anyone city. Search firms call some of the same companies in order to produce job leads. If two or more search firms present you to the same company for the same position (it can happen) the company might not even interview you because the search firms will fight over who gets the fee. With the fees being so high, neither search firm will give up very easily. In these situations, the company might simply decide not to interview the candidate. However, we do recommend that you utilize more than one search firm in order to assure maximum exposure. Two or three is a good number to begin with.

Just like the resume strategy, do not continue to use a search firm if they are not helping you. Generally, if a search firm is going to actively work with you, they will do so fairly quickly. You are a placement waiting to happen! Benchmark the search firms. Give your initial search firms about three weeks to help you acquire interviews. After this three-week period review their effectiveness. If you like the way one of the search firms is working with you, continue to work with them. Perhaps they secured an interview for you. Maybe you are just happy with the way they are following up with you. If you are not happy with one or more of the search firms, “mentally fire” them. Do not call them and tell them not to work with you, as there is always a chance they might get an interview for you later. However, the chance of this happening decreases as time passes. If this is the case, just contact another search firm to take their place. As you can see, this will be an on-going process. You might end up contacting seven or eight search firms during the course of your search, but you are actively working with only two or three at any one time.

Excerpt from
“How to Accomplish a Career Transition; A Guide to Changing Careers”

Available now as a Kindle Ebook!

http://www.amazon.com/Accomplish-Transition-Changing-Careers-ebook/dp/B006LVLFC4/ref=sr_1_12?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1334230908&sr=1-12#_

http://www.amazon.com/The-2-Hour-Job-Search-Technology/dp/1607741709/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1332520019&sr=1-1

By: Tiffany Palermo

You say “Bless you” to the stranger who sneezes on the elevator, you thank the unknown bus driver as you walk off the bus, you’ll say “Good Morning” to the old man sitting in his lawn chair on the corner in your neighborhood, all without hesitation. So, why can’t jobseekers bring themselves to start conversations with complete strangers at networking events where the benefits can be existential?! In today’s fast-paced job market, traditional forms of applying and seeking out available positions have fallen to the wayside and networking techniques have been utilized in order to find ideal candidates and new opportunities. Being a 20-something job seeker, a majority of my peers express that they have a fear of networking. Even at events specifically held for expanding your professional network, there is still a huge hurdle one has to mentally overcome before blindly walking up to someone and striking up a conversation. You want a job, right? Then you need to combat these fears, and quickly!

Networking has made huge advancements and blown up in the last few years, so take it one step further and just don’t make the right connections, but become your own brand. When you go into a networking convention, your main mission should always be to market yourself to employers in the best light, while elaborating on your interest in the field and interest in the person you’re talking to, as well. Always remember to never dismiss the people that may not be in your ideal profession, you never know what connections that person has to other fields and how willing they would be to make an introduction!

At the end of the day, anyone can sheepishly hand over a business card and a resume to a potential employer, but that can also result in your candidacy being white noise. STAND OUT. The key to being a networking-event superstar is confidence. After talking with a few peers after their first industry networking event, they explained that they felt they couldn’t go up to the high-power characters and introduce themselves, feeling completely out of place. Networking events are always  out of one’s comfort zone, but it’s in that place you will meet new circles of people that can guide your job search and present a whole new realm of opportunities that you may not have known existed. You must keep in mind that you have every right to be there as someone with 20 years of industry experience, and the more you take the initiative to create quality interactions with the people attending, the more benefit you’ll get out of going!

Before heading to a networking event, make sure you come prepared: a few copies of your resume, business cards if you have them, and business-appropriate attire. Every candidate should be armed with a quick yet informative 30-second pitch about your goals, what position you are looking for, and some background about your education! Researching the employers and attendees prior to the event will also help you get the feel for what kind of atmosphere the event will have, and will direct conversations to relevant topics to entice a more quality interaction.

In-person networking events come and go, but social media networking is forever (figuratively speaking). On top of making appearances at career fairs and networking events, connect with your industry leads through your social media personality. Twitter and Linked In have proved to be advantageously effective in connecting with new people and grabbing their undivided attention. Develop your own personal Twitter campaign: a planned schedule and mission of your Twitter account that will create online relationships with bigger companies and employers. Personally, I find that once you establish the goal of your online persona and what you want to accomplish via your account, you will be able to tweet and make your content more relevant, interesting and concise. What comprises good content that will get you a mention back from company leaders? Here are a few methods and tips that can drive your new tweeting campaign:

1. Be current on business news and incorporate that into your daily tweets. If you are browsing your morning online news publication and find an article interesting or relevant, let your opinions run free on your Twitter page! To take it a step further, tag the company or people directly involved in the article and get your name exposed! Maybe they’ll even return the compliment with a mention back, or even a follow!
2. Join the conversation. Keep tabs on your most desirable employers and highly-connected icons and, when you can, join their conversation! This can be as simple as saying you agree with a point of theirs, or supporting their conversation with new information. Just because the tweets come up on your newsfeed doesn’t mean you can only look and not touch! This is also where that confidence attribute comes into handy, as well!
3. Someone’s always watching. According to Mashable.com, in a study of 300 hiring professionals and recruiters, 90% visited a potential candidates social media profile as part of their screening process (http://mashable.com/2011/10/23/how-recruiters-use-social-networks-to-screen-candidates-infographic/). Privacy settings can only do so much, so make sure that the content on your social media pages accurately reflects you and your personality and won’t result in a negative impression of you that could be misguidedly associated with how you behave in the workplace.
4. Nobody likes a “Negative Nancy”. Common with younger social media users, the internet has been a breeding ground for incessant venting and petty complaining. Before you know it, your profile just looks like one giant buzz-kill, concentrating on self-absorbed problems. Make sure your profile goes from negative to positive.  A positive profile will draw people into your posts and make for more substantial content, making you look like a more interesting and involved candidate with a positive outlook!

This may seem time-consuming or too much work, but once you get used to re-vamping the way you tweet and view your network’s response to your new profile content, the more it’ll become second nature. Twitter was intended as an information-sharing device that will bring people with the same interests together, make sure to keep true the goal of the product! Along with main-stream social media sites, companies have started looking for personal sites and blogs that will add more to your professionalism, candidacy, and overall interest. Apply the Twitter campaign tips previously mentioned to these self-generated sites for guaranteed success! Presenting yourself as your own personal brand has never been easier, and these networking tools will help accentuate your skills as a working professional and aid in getting you in contact with the ideal employer for ultimate job search success.

For more information about the author, Tiffany Palermo, please view her LinkedIn profile: http://www.linkedin.com/profile/edit?trk=hb_tab_pro_top

• Leadership

• The ability to work well with others on the staff

• The ability to learn new ideas quickly

• Motivation

• Communication skills

• Organizational skills

• Analytical skills

• Problem solving abilities

• The ability to work well in a team environment

• Adaptability

• Interpersonal skills

• Time management skills

I work with many company recruiters and final decision-makers for organizations developing job leads for the candidates I am working with. Casually, I will ask them what it is that they really look for in a candidate. I will say “I know it’s not experience, because I have sent you candidates that have 100% of the experience you need, but they do not get the offer.” The answers I receive can usually be summed up in two areas:

1)     Interest level.
During the course of the interview, many people over-emphasize where they want to be in three to five years. This can be a mistake! Although personal growth and advancement is important, and you do want to talk about it, you should not over-emphasize it to the point where the decision-makers feel you are more concerned with the future than with the job offer at hand. The company is not to run the risk of hiring someone who may be a little unhappy until they get a promotion into the three to five years growth position. This is what creates turn-over. The hiring company will spend their time and money training you for one or two years, but then you can get this three to five year position faster by going to another company. Your chances of securing the offer for the position you are interviewing for today decreases. They will not increase as long as you over-emphasize interest in a three  five year growth position. Some people ask me how to respond if the company asks directly “Where do you want to be in three to five years?” In this case, the candidate should emphasize interest in the organization as a whole, with specific interest in the position they are interviewing for  today! A response like, “I am very impressed with the information you have told me so far about your organization, and I am very interested in this position we are talking about today. However, I am not that familiar with your company’s organization structure. Could you tell me, if I accepted an offer for this position, where could I progress to within your structure? That is where I probably will want to be.” A response like that will indicate that you are interested in growth and advancement; but right now you are interested in securing an offer for the position that is open today! It will also require the company interviewer to supply you with additional information on the company and the growth potential for the position. This could prove to be valuable information for you in making a decision whether or not to accept an offer. Interest level in the specific position you are interviewing for today is what decision-makers look for.

2)     The Likability Factor. Do the decision-makers like you?

How can you begin to develop this likability factor, while at the same time providing job specific information to an organization? You can do this! (Even on paper in a resume). This is the second and final groundwork exercise you need to complete before you can move to the activity phase of the process. This exercise will show you how to identify your points of marketability. It will also show you how to prioritize them in order to prepare for your resume development.

Excerpt from “How to Accomplish a Career Transition; A Guide to Changing Careers”

Available on Kindle EBOOKS!

Job Transitions, Inc.

John Karras, President, Job Transitions, Inc.

john@jobtransitions.net

DO NOT SCREEN YOURSELF OUT!

When investigating job opportunities, be sure to approach them with a different frame of mind than you might have had in the past. Most candidates will screen themselves out based on job title alone. When reviewing job descriptions all you need to do is ask yourself if you would like the job? Do not review them thinking you need 100% of the qualifications the company has listed. When a company writes a job description, they get together the company recruiter, the manager of the department and anyone else responsible for staffing the position. They will ask themselves, “If we could hire the perfect candidate, or someone with 100% of the qualifications we are looking for, what would that person have in their background?” They will then outline these qualifications in the job description. Companies will rarely hire the ”perfect candidate.” If a candidate has 100% of the qualifications the company is looking for, the candidate is already doing that job! The open position is at best a lateral move in terms of job responsibilities. The so-called “perfect candidate” will not want the job. Search firms can generally secure offers for the candidates they send on interviews. A different part of their challenge is closing the candidate on the job. They need to deal with feedback from candidates like, “Why should I move from company A to company B and do the same job?” Even if the money is better, people will generally want to progress from their current position.

Trade-off Factors

A trade-off can be defined as anything company will substitute for specific experience. Since hiring organizations have a difficult time attracting the “perfect candidate” for the position, they are required to make trade-offs. As a candidate responding to a job posting you will not know what the company’s trade-off factors might be.

Here is a simplified example:

The hiring organization states in a job listing, “Five years accounting experience required, preferably in a health-care environment.” If the candidate has five years accounting experience in a health-care environment, they already doing that job. The candidate probably does not want this position. The candidate the company hires might have two years accounting experience, but comes directly from a health-care organization. The company has traded off three years of experience because the candidate came from the specific environment they were recruiting for.  Let us say the successful candidate had two years accounting experience from an environment that was not health-care, but has acquired an MBA. In this situation, the MBA was the trade-off factor. The final decision-maker will know what trade-offs can be made, while Human Resources might not. This is why you want to market yourself to the final decision maker (generally the manager of a specific department) rather than a Human Resources Representative if possible. With trade-off factors in mind, you should respond to all job listings, within reason, for positions that you think you would like. This is sometimes referred to as mass mailing your resume. Although this term has negative connotations, even the best resume in the world does no good sitting on your desk at home.

Excerpt from:  ”How to Accopmplish a Career Transition: A Guide to Changing Careers” Now available as a Kindle EBOOK!  Job Transitions, Inc.  www.jobtransitions.net Visit our Job Transitions Group on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

1. Let the job boards work for you. Websites like CareerBuilder.com and Monster.com make job hunting more convenient by compiling a variety of job opportunities; however it is hard to avoid mindless searching for what you are actually qualified / looking for. Before you know it, hours of searching page after page could only result in a few matches actually pertinent to you.  Instead, take advantage of the “Post Your Resume” feature available on most popular job boards.  In a matter of 60 seconds, you can post your resume for public viewing by employers seeking ideal candidates. This small addition to your job hunt brings the employers to you, cutting your job-search stress in half, guaranteed!  In fact, after I posted my resume on CareerBuilder.com, I had received four employer calls within two hours on that same day. Crazy, but it works!
2. #BecomeaSocialMediaSuccess. Another easy time-saver is as simple as becoming a follower of your most desired companies and in-the-field leaders on Twitter.  As a Communications major, I was led to job opportunities and available positions by following @ChicagoJobs, @YPNcareers (targeted towards young PR professionals), and @PRJobsChi.  Many companies are taking advantage of social media and will ‘tweet’ any jobs leads along with a job description and how to apply.  Sites like LinkedIn have even adopted a Job Board that links you directly to people in your network involved with the hiring company.  Considering you’re a 20-something, you can’t lie to yourself that you don’t blow extraneous amounts of time on sites like Twitter and Facebook anyways, so do yourself a productive favor and follow companies you might like to work for.
3. Be Vocal. Don’t be afraid to say you’re jobless and lookin’!  In today’s economy, people are more willing to help out or offer a network connection in order to assist the jobless, especially one just starting out in the field.  Never beg for the connection, but you’d be surprised what connections result from the people you associate with every day.
4. Keep the dream job in mind, always. You wouldn’t settle for a Freezee Pop when you want Cold Stone, so why settle for a job you already know you don’t want. While it’s good to explore options you hadn’t thought of, always make sure it’s a position you’ll be happy to do.  My solution for avoiding the lure of a less-than-desirable-but-available job is to keep tabs on the companies you’re most interested in. You won’t miss a beat on current openings, and this will keep you updated on the new happenings with your companies of interest.

Above all else, remember that you are in a job HUNT, and to never let your guard down or let searching laziness set it.  Not to sound like a high school cheerleader at a football game tied in the 4^th quarter, but be aggressive, be, be aggressive!  Aggressive, go-getting candidates show an ambitious motivation that employers will find hard to pass up, even as a naiveté 20-something.

To contact the author via LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=97009675&trk=tab_pro

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At Job Transitions, Inc. we will guide you through your job search process and write the most effective resume and cover letter to meet your career goals at very affordable rates.

A premiere resume writing and career advising company devoted to helping people accomplish a successful job search or career transition.  We understand that during these difficult economic times, many people are re-evaluating their current job status and their career direction.