1. Do your research. View a list of attending employers and the positions for which they’ll be hiring on Jobs4Cats. Decide who you'll talk to and what types of positions you're interested in. If you’re planning to spend a significant amount of time at the fair, create 3 tiers of targeted companies (tier 1: companies you must talk to; tier 2: companies you’d really like to talk to; tier 3: companies you hope to talk to but won’t be crushed if you miss).
2. Bring your professional "A" game. Dress professionally (this means a suit or dress/skirt with a jacket; save your flip-flops and skateboard for the weekend) and bring multiple copies of your professional resume. Greet everyone you meet with a firm handshake, a smile and great eye contact.
3. Develop your “elevator speech”. This is a 30-second-long speech that conveys your professional/academic background and career interests.
It might go something like: “My name is Kim; it's nice to meet you! I’m an English major in my junior year with professional experience in nonprofit marketing and development, and I’m looking to jump into the for-profit sector. I noticed that your company is hiring for management trainee interns next summer; can you tell me a little more about that program and how I might fit into it?”
4. Strategize. Don't walk in without a plan! Hint: Save your first choice company for your second or third interaction; start your fair experience by warming up your pitch where there’s less at stake (perhaps with a tier 3 company).
5. Follow up. Get business cards from everyone you meet and follow up with an email thanking them for their time, asking for more information or letting them know that you’ve applied for a position you discussed. This last step is critical to ensuring the face-to-face connection you made lasts beyond the job fair experience.
And let Career Services help you! We have extended walk-in hours on Monday and Tuesday (1 - 6 PM in Career Services, LBJ Student Center 5-7.1) before the fair, and we're giving on-the-spot resume critiques in the quad from 10 AM - 2 PM, Monday & Tuesday this week. We'll see you soon!
Since there were 94 companies to research it would be really helpful if there was a listing of the majors the companies were interested in talking to (or all in some cases). Listing what the business focus is only masks the job skills being sought.
ReplyDeleteThis would expedite matching the correct students with the appropriate companies. Some companies did this on their own at the job fair by listing the majors they wanted to talk to at their table. Even more efficient would be to color code the majors so this could be seen at a glance down an entire aisle.
Sally,
ReplyDeleteThis is an excellent point. We actually do list the majors for which each company recruits on Jobs4Cats (once you've logged in, follow the path Career Events > Fall Job & Internship Fair > View Employers Attending to see a list of attending employers. Click on an employer's company name to view their recruiting information, which includes targeted majors). This information is available to any student doing research before attending the fair.
It does get a little trickier on the ground. Because Texas State has so many majors (and so many companies recruit for a diverse range of majors), it might be difficult to create a cohesive color coding system. In the past, we've listed the targeted majors on a sheet given to students at registration, so perhaps we could institute something like that again. We'll work on it!
Thank you for your feedback!