- Before the Fair
- Read one or more of the articles on working career fairs.
- Visit career fair website.
- Pre-register with the career fair.
- Make a list of the companies and employers attending the fair.
- Decide on the organizations you are most interested in and reasearch them.
- Read about their current market value and projects.
- Develop a plan of attack for the career fair.
- Prepare an error-free and well-documented resume.
- Print out extra copies of your standard resume to bring to the career fair.
- Create or review your elevator speech – a 15- to 30-second commercial that tells who you are and what makes you unique.
- Make a list of any questions that you want answers to.
- Get a good night’s sleep the night before.
- Pack pen and paper for jotting down notes and contact information.
- Pack portfolio of your accomplishments and samples of your work.
- Dress well and have a professional look.
- Go easy on any perfume or cologne.
- At the Fair
- Attempt to establish rapport with each recruiter.
- Treat every meeting as an interview with a potential employer.
- Use your elevator speech.
- Make sure that you feel confident.
- Gather information and materials from each organization’s booth.
- Showcase your knowledge of each company.
- Ask questions.
- Ask about the organization’s recruiting timetable.
- Collect business cards from each recruiter.
- Be polite.
- Make connections with people.
- After the Fair
- Send thank-you notes to each recruiter.
- Plan to follow up with each recruiter about two weeks after the career fair.
- Keep track of all the recruiters and potential job leads.
- Find other sources of job leads.
